Windmill Pointe
by BriBri13
Summary: Dean and Sam head to Michigan to investigate a series of strange deaths at a trailer park. But another group of hunters is already there, looking into a different case. Set after season two, and pretty much just for fun.
1. Chapter 1

**Windmill Point**

Emery Kyle wasn't the brightest of men, but he was a hard worker and he always tried his best. Unfortunately, his best wasn't enough to get him anything more than a job paying minimum wage. He was still a young man, barely into his twenties, but he was a realist. He knew this was pretty much the best he was ever going to be able to accomplish. He had accepted it long ago when he hadn't even been accepted into the local community college. It didn't even bother him anymore. He was happy with his place in life. His parents were long dead, but he had his older sister and a girlfriend who both loved him.

They were out shopping now, at the twenty-four hour Wal-Mart a few miles away. But he had their pictures right there, smiling up at him with their arms around each other and he smiled back at them. They should be back soon, since they had told him to start up dinner when they left and it was just about done. Emery's cooking didn't always look like the best, but it tasted damn good and that was the most important part.

Outside, their dog began barking and Emery frowned, trying to remember if anyone had fed her recently. Probably not, so he grabbed a bag of kibble from the kitchen counter and headed out the door of their trailer (mobile home, he reminded himself).

"Hey, Lucy girl," Emery greeted fondly, shaking the bag. "I got what you want." He stopped as he noticed Lucy's food bowl was filled, but she was still barking. "What is it, girl?"

Lucy lunged at something, pulling her chain tight, and Emery peered into the dimly lit night. He thought he saw something move, but soon realized it was only his neighbor, checking to see what the noise was about.

"Sorry Kaylie," Emery called. "I'll get her quieted."

Kaylie nodded, disappearing back into her trailer without saying a word.

"That girl sure has been different since Jeff died," Emery told his dog, who had quieted down to the occasional growls. "Come on, Luce, I'll take you inside."

He started to undo the dog's chain when she picked up the barking again. He murmured something soothing to her as he finished untying her and turned around to lead her back in the house. Standing in front of him was a woman, a few years older than him, and wearing some kind of old-fashioned nightgown. Emery let out a yelp, nearly dropping Lucy's chain. Lucy went crazy, whimpering and trying to lunge in the opposite direction of the women.

"Hey," Emery protested, trying not to sound scared. "You, uh, you shouldn't…Who are you?"

"How could you?" the woman demanded in an accent that sounded vaguely French.

"I, I don't know what you're talking about," Emery stammered, taking a few steps backwards.

"It'll never be yours," the woman informed him, reaching her hand out to him.

Emery started to run, but before he could even turn around he felt his body go weak. The last thought that occurred to him was that his dinner would burn if someone didn't turn off the oven soon.

* * *

"Grosse Pointe, Michigan," Sam said, setting the newspaper he was reading on top of the duffel bag that Dean was packing. 

"What's in Grosse Pointe, Michigan?" Dean asked, looking up at Sam.

Sam waited for Dean to pick up the newspaper, then rolled his eyes when it became obvious that Dean was just going to leave him to explain. "A couple of unsolved deaths, all at the same mobile home park."

Dean picked up the newspaper, but he didn't look at it. "How many's a couple?"

"Three," Sam replied. "Jeffery Simon, age eighteen, Richard Gerard, age forty-two, and Emery Kyle, age twenty-two. They have nothing in common, except that they're all guys, and they all live at Windmill Pointe Village."

"Uh-huh," Dean said. "And Windmill Pointe Village is the trailer park?"

"Mobile home park," Sam corrected.

"Yeah, whatever, PC college boy," Dean commented. "The cops have any ideas?"

"No, not really," Sam said, fishing around in his backpack and pulling out a couple of sheets of paper. "Found this online last night. Cause of death? Looks exactly like arsenic poisoning. But there's no trace of arsenic anywhere in the bodies. Seems like they're stumped. They've been doing an investigation into the park, looking in the water, the paint, the AC and heat, since the second guy dropped, but they can't find anything."

"Sounds like our kinda gig," Dean said cheerfully, shoving his last pair of jeans into the duffel bag and zipping it up. "You think it's our normal kinda thing or one of those bastards that got out?"

"Dunno," Sam replied, trying to sound as casual as Dean and giving a shrug. "The first death was right around that time, I think. But, hmm." He paused to rifle through the papers. "A little bit before, actually."

"Hmm," Dean murmured, swinging his duffel bag over his shoulder. "Well, whatever's doing it, it's gonna get wasted. Let's get going. How far is it?"

"Well, it's a little over two hundred miles from here to Detroit, and Grosse Pointe's a little bit before that," Sam said, following Dean out to the car. "I figured we'd stay in Grosse Pointe Park or Grosse Pointe Farms. They're basically the same thing, but the motel rates are cheaper."

Dean shrugged, starting up the engine and heading off. "Whatever, dude, it's not like we really _have _to worry about spending a few dollars less a night."

Dean turned up the music, then, cutting off whatever reply his brother had been planning on making. They drove for awhile, mostly listening to the music and occasionally making light banter, until they were nearly there.

"Hey, Dean, slow down," Sam commented.

"What?" Dean asked, though he instinctively took his foot off the gas pedal. "Why?

"Take a look," Sam replied, gesturing to the road ahead of them where two women were standing off to the right side.

Dean shrugged. "Hitchhikers? So?"

Sam resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "Dean, it's after midnight."

"Yeah, well, this is Detroit," Dean said.

"No, this is a dark, foresty road twenty minutes outside of Detroit," Sam corrected. "And women hitchhikers? Wearing long white dresses?"

"There are two of them," Dean said. "That doesn't fit the profile of any woman in white I've ever known."

"There's always something that doesn't fit the profile," Sam returned.

He looked ready to continue, so Dean waved a hand to shut him up. "Yeah, yeah. Okay, we'll check it out." He grinned. "And if they are regular hitchhikers, we might get lucky."

"Dean," Sam said disapprovingly.

Dean did his best to look innocent. "What? Gotta get my kicks in while I'm still young, pretty, and alive."

"Dean," Sam started, but was cut off when Dean sped the car up and stopped in front of the two women. Sam shot him a look, but rolled down his window to look at the women. They were about the same height, both wearing simple white dresses and no shoes. One of the women had black hair and green eyes and looked to be of Native American ancestry, while the other had light red hair with fire engine red streaks, blue eyes and tan skin. At their feet was a pair of sports bags about two feet long and one foot wide.

"Hey girls," Dean said, flashing them a smile. "You need a ride?"

The women glanced at each other, then down at their bags before nodding.

"Sure, that'd be great," the redhead said.

"Thanks," the dark-haired one added.

Sam nodded, then asked, "You need help with your bags?"

"No, we got 'em," the Native American woman told him with a smile.

The redhead climbed into the backseat, and her friend carefully passed her the two bags before sliding in herself. The two women seemed completely normal, but just incase, Sam absently gripped the gun in his jacket pocket.

"So where can we take you?" Dean asked, glancing in his rearview mirror at them.

"Um, Grosse Pointe Park?" the redhead told him.

"I think we can get you there," Dean said, exchanging a look with his brother.

Sam gave a very slight shrug. "Any place specific?"

"There's a bar there, called Sunrise Sunset? We can give you directions once we're in the city, it's not too far," the dark-haired woman said, looking at him to see his response.

Dean pulled forward, sending the car cruising down the road. "Sure, no problem. We'll have you there in no time."

The Native American woman smiled. "Thank you. We really appreciate it. Oh, I'm Pru, by the way, and this is my sister Piper."

Dean raised an eyebrow. "Sister?"

"Yup," Piper agreed, apparently completely oblivious to the fact that they didn't look much like sisters.

"Right," Dean muttered, then added, "I'm Dean. This is Sam."

"Nice to meet you," Sam said politely.

"And you," Pru returned, smiling at him. "You guys saved our lives, really. And you have one hell of a car."

"I didn't think we'd get a ride at all, let alone in something like this," Piper said. "Our luck usually runs in the opposite direction."

Dean smiled widely, patting his car on the dashboard. "She is gorgeous, isn't she? Rebuilt her myself, and that wasn't…"

"So what're you doing out here at this time anyway?" Sam asked, cutting him off.

"Some friends were having a party out here," Piper said. "A costume party. We kinda wandered off a bit and got lost. We're not from around here."

"A costume party, huh?" Dean repeated. "You know it's June, right?"

Pru grinned. "Doesn't have to be Halloween for people to like dressing up."

Sam glanced back at them. "What are you guys dressed as?"

"Pagan goddesses," Piper replied cheerfully. "We had flowers in our hair, but they kind of got all wilted and then fell out."

"I've still got a couple," Pru said, running her fingers through her long hair and pulling out a medium-sized red flower. Up close, faint green highlights could be seen in her hair. "Nope, just that one."

They rode a few minutes in silence, then Dean asked, "So where're you girls from?"

"Oregon," Piper told him.

"Uh-huh," Dean said. "And you came all the way out here for your friend's party?"

"He, um. Has really great costume parties," Pru offered, sounding like she realized exactly how lame that seemed.

"Yeah, really great," Piper agreed, exchanging a glance with Pru.

"Maybe we should get in on these parties," Dean commented. "If they're country hopping good, I know I wanna get hooked up."

"Frequent flyer miles," Pru said, a little too suddenly.

"Had to use them somehow," Piper added.

"So what about you? What are you guys doing out here?" Pru asked.

"Just passing through," Sam replied. "We're on a road trip."

"Oh yeah?" Piper asked. "Cool. Where've you guys been so far?"

"Oh, just about everywhere," Sam answered, looking over at Dean.

They rode in silence for a little while, with Sam glancing at the two girls in the rearview mirror ever so often. He was pretty sure he was wrong about the woman in white stuff. They were weird, sure, and definitely lying, but they didn't seem supernatural weird. A couple of times, though, he thought he caught sight of their bags moving. All of their own accord, like there was something alive in them. But he wasn't sure, and really, it wasn't like he was just going to demand they open their bags.

When they got to Grosse Pointe Park, Pru spoke up, telling Dean to make the first right, then the next left, then left again on Charlevoix Street. Dean followed the directions and sure enough, there was the bar, crowded at this time of the night.

"You can just drop us here," Piper said as Dean slowed on the street in front of the bar.

"Thanks again, guys, we really appreciate it," Pru said, handing Piper her bag and climbing out of the car. She took the two bags and set them on the street, then, while waiting for Piper to get out, leaned back in a smiled at them. "And hey, maybe if you guys are staying around here for a bit we'll get to see your car again." She winked and Piper laughed, then the two picked up their bags and started for the bar.

"We're just letting them leave? What happened to your suspicions?" Dean asked.

"They look like ghosts to you?" Sam returned, shrugging. "They're probably just normal hitchhikers. Weird, but not spirits."

"I don't know," Dean said. "Maybe we should touch them, just to make sure."

Sam shot him a look.

"What?' Dean protested. "They could be evil! Evil, hot women who know what a good car is…"

"Stop drooling and start driving," Sam said, shoving him in the shoulder.

"All right, all right," Dean replied, easing the car forward. "You never let me have any fun."

"Right, because I'm your baby-sitter or something," Sam muttered. "Pull into the first motel you see, okay?"

"Figures with all the hot teenagers out there earning extra money baby-sitting, I get you," Dean commented, turning into the parking lot of a motel just under two blocks from the bar. "Found a motel. Do I get a cookie?"

"Shut up," Sam said. He opened his door and climbed out of the car, eying the door of the motel lobby. "I'll go get us a room."

"Great," Dean agreed. "Then maybe we can head back to that bar, see if our spirits are still there."

Sam glared at him and Dean waved a hand.

"Right, right, early start, blah blah blah, I'm a boring old woman," Dean grumbled. "Go get us a room."

* * *

Piper watched the car drive off, then turned back towards Pru. "Maybe we should have asked them if we could borrow some shoes." 

Pru grinned. "That wouldn't have made us seem less weird at all."

"True. But it would have made walking back to the motel easier," Piper commented.

Pru laughed and pulled out her cell. "Oh, good, I've got service now. I'll call Paige."

"I'll take Phoebe," Piper said, taking out her own cell phone.

There was a moment of silence, then Paige's voice said, "Oh, thank God. You okay? Is Piper with you?"

"Yeah, she's right here," Pru replied.

"Good," Paige said, sounding relieved. "Pheebes is here with me, so tell Piper to stop calling her."

"Phoebe's with Paige," Pru told Piper, who nodded and pressed the end button on her own phone.

"Where are you guys?" Paige asked.

"Outside the salon," Pru replied. "You?"

"Headed back that way," Paige said. "We got back to the car and started looking for you. How'd you get back?"

"We, um, hitchhiked," Pru told her, dropping her voice to a low whisper on that last part.

"You what?" Paige demanded, followed closely by Phoebe asking, "What? What'd they do?"

"You were right, they're freaking," Pru commented jokingly to Piper.

"Yeah, well, we're the ones who got to ride in the great car," Piper said.

"You guys are stupid," Paige informed them once she and Phoebe had stopped talking with each other.

"Hey, we had Taliesan and 'Crawler check them out. If our familiars can't scope out weirdos, then we're screwed," Pru said.

Piper's bag moved a bit and a red bird's head peeked out through the space between the zippers. It was far too big to be a normal bird's head, and slightly oddly shaped as well as faintly tinged with gold.

"Taliesan agrees with that comment," Piper said.

"So there," Pru told Paige. "So can you guys hurry up and come get us? We're kinda barefoot in front of a bar here."

"We could just make you walk back to the hotel," Paige grumbled.

"Tell her we could just hitchhike again," Piper said.

"Piper says we'll just hitchhike more, then," Pru relayed. "Actually, I'm sure we could get those two guys back."

"Ask her if they were hot," Phoebe's muffled voice said.

"That's for us to know and you guys to…not," Pru replied. "Are you guys almost here yet?"

"Yeah, we'll be there in a couple minutes. Just wait for us," Paige told her.

"Okay, see you guys soon," Pru said, then hung up.

"So, now that we've got the protection spell stuff taken care of, are we heading out to watch the stables?" Piper asked.

Pru nodded. "Much as I'd like to get some sleep, we should watch the place tonight. Charles said it didn't happen last Sunday, but that doesn't mean it won't happen tonight."

"We could take shifts," Piper suggested.

"Hmm, that might be a good idea," Pru agreed. "Who's gone the longest without sleep?"

"That would be you, sweetie," Piper informed her.

"Oh. Well, never mind, then, I don't like this plan," Pru said.

Piper rolled her eyes. "We'll bring it up with the others and see what they say."

A short while later, Paige pulled up in Pru's car, a 1971 Volkswagen bus painted black with ghosted turquoise flames. Phoebe was sitting in the front seat, so Pru and Piper climbed into the second seat, carefully setting the bags in first. Once inside, the two women opened up the bags. What could only be a phoenix fluttered out of Piper's and perched on the back of her seat, while a miniature dragon about a foot and a half long, not including the tail, clambered out of Pru's. He was a deep orangey color with undertones of red in random spots and slowly swirling green eyes. Pru scooped him up into her lap and he curled up with the tip of his tail over his nose.

"Stables or motel?" Paige asked, glancing back at them.

"I vote we take shifts," Piper commented before Pru could say anything.

"Shifts sounds good," Phoebe agreed, shifting carefully so she could see them without disturbing the large black cat resting in her lap. "Who's up first?"

"Me and you," Piper replied. "Pru and Paige drove all the way here, so they're up for sleeping first."

"You guys suck," Paige grumbled.

"Yeah, that's what I said," Pru said.

"Although, I wouldn't say no to a shower," Paige added as an after-thought. "Okay, we'll drop you off and come back in a couple of hours."

They drove to the stables while Piper and Phoebe changed from their dresses to their normal clothes in the back of the bus, then Paige and Pru headed back to the motel after agreeing to be back at four am.

"I'm claiming the shower," Paige commented as they walked into their room.

"Okay," Pru replied. "I'm gonna do a little reading."

Paige nodded and went into the bathroom, filling the sink with water first so her own familiar, a two-and-a-half-foot-long sea serpent, could have a place to spend the night before she climbed into the shower. She had stepped out and was drying off when she heard the sound of breaking glass coming from the motel room. Halfway to the bathroom door, the accompanying girlish scream and dramatic music hit her ears. She sighed, rolled her eyes, and glanced at her familiar.

"One of these days, Krakken, something's actually going to be out there and I'm just going to assume it's her movie," she grumbled, slightly mollified when she felt Krakken's disgruntled agreement with her statement. Paige went back to toweling off her hair, then wrapped the towel around herself and headed out into the room. The lights were off and the curtains pulled shut, and Pru was settled under the covers of one of the beds with 'Crawler asleep next to her. The TV was on, playing some horror movie.

"You are so lucky I was already out of the shower when I heard glass shattering," Paige commented, rifling through her suitcase for some clothes.

"Sorry," Pru apologized, glancing over at her. "I thought I had it turned down low enough."

"Yeah, yeah," Paige grumbled as she pulled out a pair of underwear and an oversized, long-sleeved shirt. "Why do you watch that crap, anyway? Like we don't have enough freaky shit in our lives."

"I like them," Pru protested. "They're funny. And the good ones are interesting."

"Yeah, well, they give me nightmares," Paige replied, tugging on her clothes and dropping the towel on the floor. "So turn it off, okay?"

"Oh, all right," Pru said, fumbling for the remote and changing the channel. "What else are we supposed to do?"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe that sleep thing that we're supposed to be doing?" Paige suggested. "Piper and Phoebe are gonna be pissed if we're can't function on our shift."

"I know," Pru said with a sigh. "I still think I should be out there."

"Sweetie, you haven't slept in over twenty-four hours. Your bond with the horses isn't going to help much if you don't get some sleep," Paige told her.

"When did you start making sense?" Pru muttered, but she switched off the TV. "Oh, I was doing some reading while you were in the shower."

"Yeah?" Paige asked, finding her way to the other bed in the dark and slipping under the covers. "What'd you find?"

"Three people have died around here in the last month," Pru said. "All male, different ages, but all from the same trailer park."

"Hmm," Paige commented. "You think it's our thing or just something wrong with the park?"

"Dunno," Pru answered. "But we might as well check it out while we're here."

"Yeah, good point," Paige agreed. "We can tell Phoebe and Piper when we take over for them."

"Uh-huh. You set your alarm?" Pru asked.

"Yup," Paige replied. "Several of them."

"Great," Pru murmured, rolling over and snuggling closer to the small dragon sleeping next to her. "Night."

"Night," Paige returned sleepily, closing her eyes and settling into sleep.

The first alarm sounded just before three-thirty in the morning. Pru woke up almost instantly and reached over her familiar to grab Paige's phone from the nightstand and shut it off. 'Crawler stirred under her arm and stretched, making a soft sleepy noise before moving out of her way.

"Thanks, love," Pru murmured, sliding out of bed. "Paige, come on. Time to get up."

Paige mumbled something and curled up in a tighter ball, pulling the blankets close around her.

"Sleepy time is over, sweetie," Pru commented, reaching over to tug the blankets off.

Paige grumbled in protest and opened one eye to glare at Pru.

"You awake?" Pru asked.

"Yeah, yeah," Paige muttered sleepily.

"Good," Pru said, then grabbed some clothes and disappeared into the bathroom.

Paige promptly tugged the covers back up to her chin and fell asleep again, jerking awake only when she heard Pru yelling her name again. Her eyes shot open to see Pru standing over her, already fully dressed.

"Why's your hair in a ponytail and braided?" Paige asked sleepily.

"Because if I just put it in a ponytail it goes everywhere," Pru said in a "I've told you this a thousand times" tone. "You said you were awake."

"I am awake," Paige muttered. "I was just waiting for my turn in the bathroom."

"Uh-huh," Pru said. "Get your ass up. I'm going to grab some coffee."

"Yup," Paige agreed, then waited until she heard the door shut before closing her eyes again. Unfortunately, this time she barely managed to get back to sleep before another alarm went off and she was jolted awake. "Okay, okay, I'm up." She rolled out of bed, and grabbed her phone, shutting off the alarm and glancing at the time. "Shit."

She had about five minutes before they were supposed to leave. Not enough time for her to get ready. Well, she had ways around that. Ways that came from hundreds of mornings of catching an extra twenty minutes of sleep. And, okay, ways that came from being a witch and knowing how to modify certain spells to get dressed in seconds flat. Paige darted to the bathroom and did the things she couldn't get a spell to do, then quickly cast the one that was by now second nature. She checked in the mirror to make sure everything had gone okay before skidding out into the main room just as Pru came back.

"Damn, I'm good," Paige commented under her breath.

"What?" Pru asked.

"Nothing," Paige replied. "You get coffee?"

"Yup," Pru said, handing her a paper cup. "Piper's and Phoebe's are in the car. Come on, let's get going."

Paige sipped happily at her coffee as she followed Pru to the car and climbed into the passenger seat. Once they were on their way, Paige pulled out her cellphone and texted Phoebe to let them know they were on their way. "She says they're glad," she commented once Phoebe replied.

Pru grinned. "Yeah, bet they are. Probably bored out of their minds."

Two minutes later, Pru pulled up in front of Piper and Phoebe, who were waiting for them out in front of the stables.

"Finally," Piper commented as they got out of the car. "Now you get to sit here and watch nothing."

"At least I can talk to the horses," Pru teased. "Which, actually, I'm gonna go do now." She headed for the stables.

"Go get some sleep, guys," Paige said, handing Piper the keys. "We'll come join you in a couple of hours."

She watched the pair drive off, then walked off to join Pru in the stables. "Pru?" she asked as she looked around, frowning when she didn't see anyone. "Pru, you in one of the stalls?"

Footsteps sounded behind her and Paige rolled her eyes. "Yeah, funny Pru," she commented, just as she heard Pru's voice call, "Yeah, be out in a second."

Paige's eyes widened and her hand flew to her pocket, grabbing the bottle of rock salt before she whirled around to face the thing behind her.


	2. Chapter 2

_Can't tell if this is true or dream_

_Deep down inside I feel to scream_

_The terrible silence stops me_

_Now that the war is through with me_

* * *

Sam sat at a table in the motel lobby, flipping through the newspaper he had borrowed from the front desk while he waited for Dean to get coffee from the motel's complimentary breakfast room. He had finished an unsuccessful search for any other deaths and was looking for anything else useful when Dean arrived.

"Anything?" Dean asked through a mouthful of food as he handed Sam a Styrofoam cup of coffee.

"No more deaths," Sam replied, taking the coffee and glancing up to give a smile of thanks. It grew a bit when Dean sat across from him and dropped a plate of food on the table between them. "Is this any good?"

"It's awesome. Try the little muffin things, dude, they're great," Dean said, grabbing one of them and shoving it in his mouth. "Coffee's shit, though."

"Yeah, but it's free," Sam said, taking a sip and making a face. "You get any cream?"

Dean tossed him a handful of cream and sugar packets. "The cops come up with anything else?"

"Nothing that they're putting in the papers," Sam replied. "Think I know where we can get some info on local lore, though."

"Sweet," Dean commented. "Let's go, we can eat this on the way."

They headed out to the car. Sam drove while Dean kept a firm grip on the plate of muffins, eating away at the pile until Sam glared at him.

"What?" Dean asked.

"Quit hoarding the muffins," Sam told him, reaching over to grab a couple.

"I wasn't hoarding," Dean grumbled. "I was protecting the car from your shaky driving. The last thing my baby needs is crumbs every where."

"Right," Sam said, rolling his eyes.

"So where's this information you said you found?" Dean asked.

"Grosse Pointe Historical Society," Sam said. "There was an article about it in this morning's paper."

"Historical Society, are you kidding me?" Dean asked. "Man, I don't wanna hang out with a bunch of old dudes going on about the good days of yester year."

"Dean, we need to know about the history of the area. We could spend hours searching through newspapers, or we could go ask the guys whose job it is to know everything that's happened here," Sam said. "But, hey, if you prefer the newspapers…"

"Why do we always have crappy options?" Dean muttered under his breath. "All right, all right. But if I have to put up with snow and hills for two hours, I'll kill you."

"I'll take my chances," Sam said with a grin.

A few minutes later, they pulled up in front of a building that looked surprisingly modern to be the home of a historical society.

"Here it is," Sam said as he parked the car.

"Yippee," Dean muttered, climbing out. "Look, we got a spot right in front. I wonder why."

They walked into the building, where there was an information counter, but no one was behind it. To the right and left of the front room were hallways, with an office at the side of each one. The left office was dark and empty, but light streamed from the glass window of the right. An attractive young woman walked into view, talking animatedly on the phone.

"I take it back," Dean said, grinning. "This is so–"

"Hey guys," a male voice greeted.

Sam grinned as Dean reluctantly turned to face the man walking towards them, then looked that way himself. The man had brown hair, blue eyes, and looked to be a few years younger than Sam. There was a friendly smile on his face as he stopped in front of them.

"I'm Aaron," he introduced. "How can I help you?"

"I'm Sam, and this is Dean. We're tourists," Sam said. "We were just curious about the town's history."

"Really?" Aaron asked. "Great. Anything specific?"

"Yeah, actually," Dean replied. "We're kind of crime buffs."

"Well, he's a crime buff," Sam interrupted. "I'm more into war stories."

"You're in luck, then," Aaron said. "Come on back to my office where we can sit down."

He led them down the left hallway to a closed door with a nameplate reading 'Aaron Warner.' Sure enough, inside were a couple of nice cushy chairs, along with a desk and a computer. The wall behind the desk was lined with bookcases, all of which were filled with old looking books.

"Have a seat," Aaron said, sitting in one of the chairs that wasn't behind the desk.

Sam and Dean took two others, then looked expectedly at Aaron.

"Well, there haven't been too many exciting crimes around here," Aaron told them. "But there was a pretty grisly battle. It happened in 1712, a few years before the French and Indian war broke out. See, this town was originally a French settlement. It was a fort called Pontchartrain, and the English really wanted control of it. The French guarded it well, though, especially with the Fort Commander, Antoine de la Monthe Cadillac in charge."

Dean made a sound halfway between a snort and a chuckle and Aaron grinned at him.

"Yeah, that name gets me, too," Aaron admitted. "Anyway, in the spring of 1712, the English found out that Cadillac was away, leaving his lieutenant Du Buisson in charge with only twenty men. Plus, the French's Native American allies, the Ottowas and the Hurons, were away on hunting trips. The Native American allies of the English, though, were on scene and ready to fight. The Fox tribe set up camp outside the Fort. The French were trapped inside the Fort, but they managed to get the message out to their Native American allies.

The French managed to protect the Fort until the Ottowas and Hurons arrived in May, and the Fox soldiers were driven back to Windmill Pointe, about eight miles north of the Fort. The Ottowas and Hurons went after them and the tribes continued to fight. Du Buisson protested that the Fox had fled and so there was no need to pursue them, but the Ottowa chief convinced him that Fox must not be allowed to escape and have the chance to collect themselves and attack again.

In the end, more than a thousand Fox soldiers, and a few Ottowa, Huron and French ones, lay dead. The French and their allies took away their dead soldiers, but the few remaining Fox were only able to cover their dead with earth right where they lay. To this day, people are still finding their bones."

"Really?" Sam asked.

Aaron nodded. "They found a whole bunch when they were building that trailer park that covers part of the land. Probably didn't find them all, though. I wouldn't be surprised if most of them were still there."

"Huh," Dean commented, then added, "You know, you aren't exactly the type of person I figured would be working here."

Aaron grinned. "What, expecting some stuffy old British librarian?"

"You've been watching too much Buffy, Dean," Sam joked.

Aaron laughed. "Well, honestly, Andrea and I are the only ones here under fifty. Most of the people who work here are retired from their previous jobs."

"Andrea?" Dean asked. "She the blond out front?"

"Yeah, that's Andrea," Aaron said. "She's nice, really smart. We're both history majors at GPU. They've got a work study program with the historical society. We work here and get two credits a term."

Sam nodded. "We had something like that with a couple law firms back where I went to school. Great way to get credits and rent money at the same time."

"Exactly," Aaron agreed cheerfully. "Anything else you guys want to know?"

"Nah, I think we're good," Sam said. "Thanks a lot, Aaron."

"No problem," Aaron said. "Feel free to come on back if you're curious. I've got plenty of stories."

"Will do," Dean agreed. "Nice meeting you."

"You too," Aaron replied, waving a final farewell as the brothers headed out.

"So, what do you think?" Sam asked when they got to the car.

"I think you should have mentioned that little law firm internship before now," Dean said. "We could have been taking advantage of that, man."

Sam rolled his eyes. "Of the story, Dean."

Dean opened the driver's side door. "Oh. Think we've got some research to do. But first, we should go talk to the relatives of those dead guys."

* * *

The sun had just risen, flooding the ranch house kitchen with morning light as Paige and Pru sat down at a wooden table. An African American man who looked to be in his late twenties approached them, carrying a pot of coffee and three mugs. He set the mugs on the table and poured coffee into them, passing one each to Pru and Paige before sitting down with the remaining one. Paige immediately reached for the cream and sugar pots in the center of the table while Pru took an experimental sip of her coffee. 'Crawler, who was draped over Pru's shoulders with his tail wrapped around her forearm, leaned down in an attempt to steal a taste of the coffee. Pru glared at him and moved the coffee away, taking another sip. 

"Mmm," Pru said, sighing happily. "Thanks, Charles. This is good."

Charles had been staring in fascination at the small dragon, but at Pru's words he tore his eyes away and grinned. "It should be. It's imported from Brazil."

Paige drank some of hers and smiled. "It almost makes up for you scaring the hell out of me, Charles."

Charles looked vaguely guilty. "Hey, I said I was sorry."

"She's just giving you a hard time," Pru said. "It's okay, I'd want to check things out, too."

"Says the one who didn't nearly have a heart attack," Paige grumbled.

"I just don't want anything to happen to them," Charles said, absently swirling his coffee around the mug. "Well, anything more. I already lost Hermes, I just can't..."

Pru reached over and took his hand. "Whatever's doing this, we'll stop it."

"It's our job," Paige agreed. "And we're kinda good at it."

Charles smiled a bit. "Thanks for sticking around. I was sort of worried that if nothing happened tonight, you guys would think I was crazy."

"I'm not saying you're not crazy," Pru teased. "But the horses back you up. Something's coming in there at night, and it's not human. They've never seen it before."

"I still can't believe you can actually talk to them. Hey, um, what do they say about me?" Charles asked, glancing down at his coffee mug again.

"They love you," Pru told him. "For some, you're the best they've ever had. Sometimes they question the newbie riders you put on them, though."

"I guess they wouldn't be a big fan of me, then, would they?' Paige joked.

Charles and Pru laughed.

"We should probably get back to the motel," Pru said, drinking the last of her coffee and standing. "We've got some research to do, but we'll be back a little after sunset, okay?"

"Oh, of course," Charles said, standing up as well. "You girls must be exhausted, too."

"Nah, we're used to going without sleep," Paige replied as she, too, drained her mug and stood. "Still, some might be nice."

"Let me give you a ride to the motel," Charles offered.

"That'd be great," Paige replied. "Since our car's sort of back there."

Charles led them to his pick-up, and the three chatted some more until they arrived at the motel. Charles waited long enough to make sure they got into their room, then took off. Paige slipped under the covers of the bed she was sharing with Phoebe, who was sleeping curled up with her familiar. Phoebe stirred, but didn't wake up. Paige murmured something that sounded like good night and pulled the covers up to her chin.

Pru smiled and gently unwrapped 'Crawler's tail from around her arm, then set him on the other bed. Piper was still asleep in it, but when Pru climbed under the covers, Piper cracked open her eyes and rolled over to face her.

"How'd it go?" Piper asked softly.

"Nothing showed up," Pru replied. "Charles was worried we'd think he was crazy."

"Well, he obviously didn't make up his horse dying," Piper said thoughtfully. "You think it might just be the non-supernatural kind of evil?"

"No, I talked to some of the horses," Pru said. "They know supernatural when they see it. Something rode Hermes to exhaustion every night, and it got in there without breaking in, tipping the alarm, or appearing on camera."

"Did you talk to the horse it's happening to now?" Piper questioned.

"Yup," Pru said, shifting a bit as 'Crawler stretched out beside her and wrapped his tail around her left forearm. "Dunsmuir. She doesn't remember anything. Just falling asleep and then waking up feeling like she spent all night running through the forest. The other horses say something's coming in and taking her out, but they don't know what. It's the same thing that took Hermes, though."

Piper yawned. "So I guess later today we're research bound?"

"Uh-huh," Pru agreed. "But after sleep."

* * *

"Dude, do you think this woman's even going to know what the EPA is?" Dean asked under his breath as they climbed out of their car and eyed the mobile home in front of them. 

"Dean, don't be a dick," Sam replied.

"I'm not being a dick," Dean protested. "I'm expressing a legitimate concern."

Sam rolled his eyes. "Whatever, Dean. Why don't you just let me do the talking?"

Dean muttered something under his breath, but followed Sam up to the door. Sam knocked on the door and the two waited for a minute until a woman who looked about Sam's age opened it up a bit and peered at the two of them. Her blonde hair was ratty, and her blue eyes dull and glassy.

"Yes?" she asked.

"Are you Livy Kyle?" Sam asked politely.

"Yes," she replied in the same dull tone.

"Well, I'm Agent Stanhope and this is Agent Vandegroot," Sam told her. "We're with the Environmental Protection Agency. We're investigating your brother's death."

"But…what does Emery have to do with the environment?" Livy asked, sounding confused.

Dean shot his brother a look that clearly said 'I told you so' and Sam glared back at him.

"We're trying to figure out what caused Emery's death," Dean said. "And stop it from happening to anyone else."

"Oh," Livy said, sounding as if she thought she understood. "They said they were looking into the water."

"Yes, that's right," Sam agreed. "We just had a few questions for you."

Livy held the door open for them, her eyes still looking lost and a little confused. "Okay. Come on in."

They followed her into the mobile home, where a pretty young brunet woman was sitting on the couch. At seeing the two men, she stood up and glared at them.

"If you two are reporters, you can just leave us alone. We've said all we're going to say," she informed them.

"They're not reporters. They're with the EPA," Livy said. "This is Millie. She's…she's…"

"It's okay, Livy, I can take care of this," Millie told her, her voice softening briefly before she turned back to Sam and Dean. "Emery was my boyfriend. Now what the hell do you guys want with us?"

"My name is Sam, and this is Dean," Sam told her gently. "We're investigating the park. Your boyfriend's death was the third this month. Something's wrong here, and we want to find out what."

Millie searched his face for a moment. "Okay. Come on, sit down."

She sat back down on the couch, taking Livy's hand when the older woman sank down next to her. Sam and Dean sat in two plastic chairs, which were angled slightly to face the couch.

"What do you guys want to know?" Millie asked.

"Well," Sam started. "The police think Emery might have been poisoned. Does he have any enemies?"

"No," Millie replied, shaking her head. "Everyone loved him."

"Did he ever show any signs of arsenic poisoning?" Dean asked. "Nausea, vomiting, fever, fatigue, or headache? Any hallucinations?"

The two women glanced at each other for confirmation, then Millie shook her head again.

"Not as long as I've known him," Millie said.

"Never," Livy spoke up, her voice quivering slightly. "He was always in perfect health."

Sam nodded. "Is there any place that Emery and the other two spent a lot of time at? Anything they had in common that would set them apart from other people?"

Mille thought for a moment. "Well, they were all French soldiers in the re-enactment of the Fox Indian Massacre every year. But James Miller down the street and Betty Ahms next door are in the re-enactment, too."

"Are they French soldiers, too?" Dean asked.

"James Miller is," Millie said. "But Betty plays an Indian cook."

Dean and Sam exchanged a look, then Sam asked, "Were either of you with Emery the night he died?"

"Not when he died," Millie told them. "We were at the store."

"But you were the last two to see him?" Dean asked.

"Yes," Millie replied. "Wait, no. Kaylie Simon, our neighbor, today she told us she saw him that night. Our dog was barking, she came out to see what was wrong and saw him taking care of it."

"Does your dog bark often?" Sam questioned.

"Only when her bowl's empty and she's hungry," Millie said. "But I fed her before we left. Look, I'm sorry, but we already said most of this to the police. Shouldn't you be asking questions about the water or something?"

"We have to conduct our own investigation," Sam replied. "We're just trying to rule out a human interference."

"But, now that you mention it, how is the water? Do you drink the water here or do you buy your own?" Dean asked.

"We drink tap. So do most people around here," Millie said. "People who live in trailers don't drink bottled water every day."

"Uh," Dean commented, not entirely sure what to sat to that. "Sorry."

Livy drew in a shaky breath. "We're not rich. But we were happy. Emery was happy." She looked over at Millie as if seeking support.

Millie nodded. "We were happy here. Emery had everything he wanted. He…" she trailed off, her voice clouded with emotion. "Is there anything else you need?"

"No, I think that's it," Sam said, standing up. "Thank you for your time."

Millie showed them out the door, then paused to say, "I hope you find out what happened. It doesn't really matter to me. Emery's gone and nothing…Nothing…" She took a deep breath. "But I don't want it to happen to anyone else."

"Don't worry," Dean said. "We'll find it, and stop it."

"We're very sorry for your loss," Sam added.

"Thank you," Millie told them quietly, then shut the door.

"They were all French soldiers in a re-enactment of a bloody battle, living on the place where a bunch of Native Americans were slaughtered," Dean said. "Not to mention their bones are probably still here. You think we got another Native American curse?"

"Maybe. But damn, I hope not," Sam replied. "That dog barking when he died, though, could be a sign of something supernatural."

"Yeah," Dean agreed. "Of course, it could be a sign of a squirrel in the trees, too."

"Maybe that girl Kaylie saw something," Sam suggested. "You wanna split up and take the other two families?"

Dean nodded. "Sure. I'll take Kaylie."

"All right, I guess I'll go talk to Mrs. Gerard," Sam said.

Twenty minutes later, the two brothers met at the Impala.

"So, Kaylie's a mess," Dean informed Sam. "She and her brother were really close. She confirmed that he played a French soldier, but she didn't see anything the night Emery died. Just his dog barking and him untying her. She wasn't even in town when Jeff died. Same thing as Emery, though, no enemies, no signs of poisoning, no hallucinations, nothing. She did say they don't drink the tap water here. They buy bottled. Crystal Geyser."

"Mr. Gerard had a history of high blood pressure, but nothing like poisoning," Sam said. "No enemies, nothing that would make anyone want to kill him. And he was definitely in the re-enactment. He played a captain, took it really seriously." Sam paused. "Kaylie is Jeff's older sister, right?"

"Yeah," Dean replied. "So?"

"Mr. Gerard lived with his wife, but his older sister lived in the trailer next to them. She was there comforting Mrs. Gerard," Sam said.

"So all three had older sisters that live here?" Dean shrugged. "It's probably a coincidence."

"You think?" Sam asked.

"Yeah. Never heard of a demon that targeted little brothers," Dean said, then grinned. "And if there was one, you can sure as hell bet we'd've run into it by now."

Sam blinked. "What? Why?"

"Come on, it'd go after you in a heartbeat. You just attract trouble," Dean told him.

"I do not," Sam protested.

"Sure you do," Dean said. "You're all vulnerable and stuff. It's sweet."

"Shut up," Sam retorted, shoving him and climbing into the passenger side of the car.

"Okay, if you can't handle the truth," Dean said, sliding into the driver's seat. "So, library?"

"Yeah. Your favorite part of the job, reading books," Sam said.

Dean rolled his eyes and started the engine. "Weak comeback, dude."

"Just drive," Sam told him.

They got to the library and split up, Dean taking the old newspapers and county records while Sam hit the books. Hours later, Dean gave up and hauled his current load of records back up to Sam.

"You finding anything?" Dean asked.

"Loads," Sam replied. "But nothing Aaron didn't already tell us. Nothing that stands out."

"Same here," Dean dropped the stack of records he was holding, grimacing at the cloud of dust that rose from them. "Most of the dead warriors don't even have names mentioned. It could be any one of them."

"Yeah," Sam agreed. "So unless we want to salt and burn the whole trailer park…"

Dean looked up, hopeful.

"Dude," Sam said. "No."

"Yeah, you're right," Dean admitted. "We'd have to dig up all their bones, not just set the place on fire."

"That's not what I meant," Sam protested.

"I know. And it's mobile home park, Sammy," Dean added.

Sam grunted and set aside his pile of books. "Nice to see you pay attention occasionally."

Dean grinned at him, apparently unoffended by the comment. "Well, it's almost sundown. Let's go check out the park, we can pick up the research thing tomorrow."

"Yeah, okay," Sam agreed, standing up. "Maybe we can find spooky and get him to tell us his life story."

Dean shook his head. "Keep up this sarcasm thing and I'm gonna be out of a job."

Sam frowned. "I wasn't being sarcastic."

Dean looked at him for a minute.

"What?" Sam asked. "Could happen."

"Yeah, whatever dude," Dean said. "You coming or what?"

* * *

It was just after noon before the girls finally woke, and that was only because 'Crawler and Taliesin were awake and able to rouse them. Fortunately, it didn't take them too long to get ready, and after a quick stop for breakfast, they arrived at the local library to do some research. Piper, Pru, and Phoebe wore backpacks or carried large purses for their familiars to hide in. Paige, though, who had a familiar that could only live in water, was used to being separated from him and carried an empty bag, in case they found some books worth bringing back. 

They remained together for a little while, then eventually split off to find their own research material. After a couple of hours, Piper found something that looked promising. She skimmed it quickly, then glanced up at Pru, who had sat down at her table a few minutes before with her own book.

"I think I've got it," Piper said.

"Me too, actually," Pru replied. "Is it Le Lutin?"

Piper grinned. "Yup. See, this is why we're the best."

Pru laughed. "It's true. Come on, let's find the other two."

They located Paige at a near-by table, making her way through a thick volume. Relieved to be able to give up reading it, Paige joined them in their search for Phoebe. A few minutes later, they found Phoebe in the middle of a pile of books. There was an open one in front of her, but she had taken a break to flirt with a cute guy who went to the local college. (Only for a second, she protested.)

She went mostly willingly back to their table, though, and the four women sat down to Piper and Pru's findings.

"We think it's called Le Lutin, which is French for the goblin," Piper said. "It's a supernatural creature that torments people by riding their best horses every night until the horse keels over from exhaustion. Apparently one has haunted Grosse Pointe since the seventeen hundreds."

"Yeah, that sounds like our guy," Paige said.

"If it's been here since the seventeen hundreds, though, why don't more people have horses dying?" Phoebe asked.

"Well, supposedly it only does it to people it has taken a disliking to, for whatever reason." Pru told her. "The reasons are usually really stupid, like the person sang the wrong song or walked home the wrong way. Also, I guess a bunch of the horse owners are superstitious about it and keep good luck charms on their stable doors to keep the goblin from noticing them."

"So why don't we just tell Charles to put one of them on his stable door?" Phoebe suggested.

"Good idea," Piper said. "But the goblin's already noticed him. It might not work."

"Okay, so how do we kill it?" Paige asked.

"Well, the legends say holy water hurts it," Pru said. "So I'm thinking we go for the holy water filled potion bottles and all the weapons dipped in holy water."

"Sounds like a plan," Paige agreed.

"All right, now we just have an hour or two until sunset," Piper said. "Let's go get ready."

* * *

**Author's Note:** The lyrics at the beginning are from Metallica's One. The events described by Aaron are based on an actual battle taking place near Detroit in 1712. And, also, I own nothing, so please don't sue. 


	3. Chapter 3

_I hear the horses' thunder down in the valley below_

_I'm waiting for the angels of Avalon_

_Waiting for the eastern glow_

* * *

It was just getting dark as Dean pulled into the trailer park and found an out of the way place to park. It probably wasn't actually a parking area, but that didn't seem to concern Dean.

"So, uh, this James Miller guy," Dean said, shutting off the car. "You think he might be the next victim?"

"Well, he fits the pattern," Sam said, then snorted. "What little pattern we have."

Dean shrugged. "Lives here, French soldier. Good enough pattern for me."

"Dean, two things is not a pattern. Two things is two things. It takes three points to make a line," Sam told him.

"Okay, fine. Male, lives here, French soldier. There's your three points, college boy," Dean replied, getting out of the car.

Sam rolled his eyes and followed. "All right, fine. What's the plan?"

"Let's take a look around the park, then you can watch the guy's house and I'll do some more thorough searching," Dean suggested.

"Oh, no no no," Sam said. "I am not sitting in front of this guy's place while you hunt the thing."

"Fine, we'll take turns," Dean told him. "You can go first."

Sam held out his right hand in a fist. "Nice try. We'll play for it."

Predictably, Dean lost both rounds when he refused to play something besides scissors.

Sam grinned. "One day you'll learn, Dean."

Dean muttered something under his breath.

"What was that?" Sam asked.

"Shut up," Dean grumbled. "Okay, after we look around I'll take first shift. Two hours, then we switch off."

"Two hours," Sam agreed, starting off.

Dean waited a few steps before following with a grin. Most ghosts preferred to do their thing later in the night. Whatever was out there, it wasn't likely Sam would meet it on the first shift. But it was easier to let Sam think he had won.

Sure enough, nothing happened during Sam's first turn prowling the park. Or his first shift at the house. And still nothing when he went back out. By the time Sam joined Dean at James Miller's trailer to start his second house-watching stint, it was three in the morning.

"I'm starting to think that we're not going to get lucky tonight," Sam commented.

"Me too," Dean agreed. "In either sense of the word."

Sam shoved him playfully and Dean grinned.

"Okay, okay," Dean said, checking his watch. "Well, another two hours will put it just after five. Then you wanna call it a night?"

"Sounds good," Sam replied.

Dean nodded. "See you in two."

Sam watched him leave, then let out a sigh and did a careful sweep around the trailer. The guy had gone to bed awhile ago, but it didn't hurt to be cautious. Finding nothing, Sam took a seat on a rock under a couple of trees and waited. A little after an hour later, Sam's cell vibrated in his pocket, making him jump.

He fished it out, checked the ID, then answered with, "You find something?"

"Nah, nothing," Dean replied. "But the park's apparently got a security guy. I just saw him making rounds by the south end of the park, figured I'd give you a head's up."

"Thanks," Sam said, moving his eyes toward the road and standing up.

"No problem," Dean told him. "Try not to get too bored there, Sammy, it – holy shit!" There were a few muffled scrambling noises, then a clunk.

"Dean?" Sam asked. "Dean, are you okay?'

Sam was moving without waiting for an answer, heading for the park's south end. He had heard that last sound often enough to know that it was a cell phone dropping. As he was running, he gave a silent prayer for his brother's safety, one he had thought or spoken many times before. It wasn't long before Sam heard voices, one of them Dean's. Sam turned a corner and saw Dean lying on his back on the sidewalk in front of a trailer. An old man stood next to him, pointing a shotgun at him. Dean's hands were palm up by his head, wide open, and he was saying something that didn't appear to be convincing the old man.

"'Scuse me, sir!" Sam called, taking a few steps closer. "What seems to be the trouble here?"

The man's eyes darted in Sam's direction, though he kept the gun pointed at Dean. "Who're you?"

"Agent Sam Stanhope. I'm with the EPA," Sam replied.

"AP whatsit?" the man asked.

"Environmental Protection Agency. I'm here looking into the water, because of the recent deaths," Sam said, using his best calm, friendly yet authoritative voice.

"Oh," the man said, looking back down at Dean. "Can you envi-ermental people do anything about troublesome hoodlums trespassing on **my property**?" His voice grew louder as he spoke until he was practically shouting the last two words.

"Well, sir, I am a federal agent," Sam told him. "I can take him into custody."

"Good," the man said, looking pleased. He backed up a step so Sam could get to Dean. "Trampin' through my yard, getting' his footprints in my grass. He even tried to tell me he was an officer of the law. Ya did it to the wrong man, boy, I know every po-lice officer in this city!"

Sam leaned over and helped Dean up, turning him around and pinning his arms behind his back so it looked like he was being handcuffed.

"Not so chatty now, are ya boy?" the man asked. "Make sure ya give him a cellmate. A nice bigun."

"I will, sir," Sam replied. "You have a nice night, now."

Sam led Dean back towards the car, a wicked grin spreading across his face as soon as they were out of the man's sight. Dean shoved him away, rubbing his wrists where Sam's hands had been.

"Don't you dare say anything," Dean hissed.

"Me? What?" Sam asked, doing his best to look innocent and failing spectacularly. "Why would I say anything about you getting knocked on your ass by an old man?"

"Shut up," Dean muttered.

"What is it with you and old people, anyway? There was that old woman in the hospital, and the guy at the retirement home, and then there was that time when you were seventeen…" Sam told him.

Dean glared at him. "Shut. Up."

"Maybe it was the hundred mini-muffins you had this morning," Sam suggested. "All those in your stomach had to slow you down."

"Yeah, how'd you like my fist in your stomach? Bet that'll slow you down," Dean threatened.

Sam laughed, not in the least bit put off. "Maybe I should have been studying to be a cop instead of a lawyer. It sure was fun arresting your ass."

"I mean it," Dean insisted. "Shut your mouth."

Sam managed to keep mostly silent for the rest of the way to the car, only giving a few stifled laughs every now and then. They were almost out of the trailer park when Sam asked, "Hey Dean?"

"What?" Dean growled.

"Must have been strange, huh?" Sam commented.

Dean frowned, glancing at him out of the corner of his eyes. "How lame your taunting is? That's not strange, that's just you."

"Seeing that guy," Sam replied, ignoring his comment. "Kinda like looking into a mirror. You in forty years."

Dean's eyes turned back to the road. "Next time, I'm just going to let him shoot me," he said as Sam started laughing again.

* * *

"So you guys really think you know what this is?" Charles asked as he leaned against the back of Pru's bus, watching Piper and Paige fill small glass bottles with holy water before turning back to Pru for a response. 

"Yup," Pru replied, putting a handful of crossbow bolts tipped in sharpened, hollow glass filled with holy water into a small quiver. "You want me to give you the details?"

"I don't know," he admitted. "I mean, I never figured stuff like this existed." He sighed slightly. "Things were a lot simpler back in high school, weren't they?"

"Yeah, they were," Pru agreed as she slid a bolt into place in a small crossbow. Then she grinned. "But they're a lot more fun now."

"Maybe for you," Charles teased, shaking his head. "When did you pick up crossbow, anyway?"

"Beginning of senior year," Pru replied. "Well, my senior year. You were already a sophomore in college then. I'm still better at recurve and long bows, but the crossbow's good for fast, close quarters."

"Yeah, so's a sword," Piper commented as she approached them. She pulled a broadsword in a sheath from the back of the bus and looked thoughtfully at it. "Of course, it doesn't have holy water in it, so who knows how effective it'll be. I should try to find some sort of anti-rust spell so next time I can just soak it in holy water. Or maybe I can get a priest to bless it, you think that'll work?"

Pru shrugged. "Dunno. But it couldn't hurt to try."

"Remind me to do some research tomorrow," Piper commented.

"Sure," Pru said. "I'll file that right behind 'kill this thing' and 'stay alive' on my to-do list."

Piper laughed and Charles looked relieved.

"That was a joke right?" Charles asked.

"No, we're planning on dying," Piper joked.

"Don't mind us," Pru said. "It's just what we do. We're taking it seriously, really."

"I know you are," Charles said. "I-"

"Hey!" Phoebe called from where she was standing in front of the stable doors. "Is the charm going up above here?"

"Yeah," Piper called back. "Take care of that, will you?"

"You want me to get you a ladder?" Charles asked.

"Nah, I got it!" Phoebe said. She levitated a few feet into the air so she could reach the hook above the door. She pulled a small charm from her pocket and tied it to the hook, then lowered herself to the ground. "All set."

Charles blinked a couple of times, closed his eyes, then blinked again. "How d'y'all get used t'that?"

Pru grinned at him and said teasingly, "Your accent's showing."

Piper laughed. "You take the phoenix and dragon without batting an eye, but this is what gets you?"

'Crawler poked his head out of the back of the bus and made an inquisitive chirping sound, his eyes slowly whirling a bluish purple. The sound was echoed by Taliesan, who had been perched on a nearby branch but now fluttered over to land on top of the bus.

"What are they saying?" Charles asked.

"It doesn't really work like that," Piper replied. "We mostly just get emotions, sometimes pictures."

"Except me," Pru said.

"Except Pru," Piper agreed.

"'Crawler and I can talk to each other. We figure it's probably something to do with my animal connection thing." Pru told him. "He just heard his named and wanted to know what we were saying about him."

"Hey guys," Paige greeted as she walked over to them. "It's getting dark. We gonna set up?"

"Yeah," Pru replied, taking the quiver and attaching it to the side of her belt.

Piper buckled the sword sheath around her waist. "We'll come get you when everything's done."

"But…" Charles protested. "Can't I…"

"The best way for you to help us is to stay inside," Pru told him gently. "We know what we're doing. Don't worry."

Charles frowned, but reluctantly said, "All right. You girls be careful, okay?" He reached out to tug playfully on one of Pru's pigtail braids.

Pru swatted his hand away, trying to look serious but not really succeeding. "Quit that. Get your ass in the house."

Charles smiled a bit. "Fine. I'll see you guys later. Good luck." He paused. "And, you know, thanks." Then he headed back towards the house.

"Come on, love, let's go," Pru said to 'Crawler, who hopped up on her shoulder. Once he was out, she shut the bus's back door.

"You too, Talie," Piper called and her familiar flew down to perch on her shoulder. He nipped affectionately at the ponytail holder pulling her hair up.

"You think Charles would kill us if we flooded his yard so Krakken could be here?" Paige asked wistfully as they joined Phoebe by the door.

"Maybe not if Pru asked him," Phoebe teased. "He likes you, you know."

Pru rolled her eyes. "You always say stuff like that. We're friends."

"And we sort of have more important things to do," Piper said.

"Right," Pru agreed. "Okay, we have to try our best to kill it before it gets in the stables. We can't let it take one of the horses out."

"Why?" Paige asked. "I thought it just rode the horses around all night and returned them."

"In the legend, the goblin was already riding the horse when the guy doused it with holy water," Piper said. "The horse was still under its spell, I guess. The goblin ran the horse into a lake and both of them died."

"Oh," Phoebe said. "Okay, we kill it outside."

"Yup," Pru said. "Figured we'd form teams, two of us inside and two out front."

"I'll take outside," Phoebe volunteered.

"Me too," Paige seconded.

"Guess it's us and the horses," Piper commented to Pru with a grin.

"Hey," Phoebe said, stopping them before they headed inside. "How're we supposed to see this thing coming? It can hide itself from cameras."

"Our familiars should sense it," Piper replied. "And you could keep your eyes open."

"Funny," Phoebe muttered as Piper and Pru went inside the stables. She glanced down at her familiar. "You might want to get big for this one, Bagirah." The black cat nodded and grew into a full-sized jaguar, then sat down by Phoebe's side to wait.

It was a few hours into the night before Bagirah gave a low, deep growl. Inside the stables, the horses fidgeted nervously and Taliesan and 'Crawler perked up, suddenly on guard.

"I think it's showtime," Piper murmured, the fingers of her left hand closing around her sword's handle.

The words had barely left her mouth when sounds of a scuffle came through the door. There were twin tinkles of breaking glass, followed by a pained, inhuman kiss and then silence.

"Fuck!" Phoebe shouted. "Paige, can you see it?"

Piper drew her sword and Pru pointed her crossbow at the front door. A loud bang sounded behind them and at the same time, the door blew open. Pru kept her bow trained on the front door while Piper whirled around to see what had made the noise and spotted one of the stall doors open.

"Pru!" Piper shouted. "It's got Dunsmuir!"

"Shit," Piper cursed and turned in time to see Dunsmuir come charging out of her stall.

A creature about the six of a six year old was on her back. It was vaguely human shaped with wicked claws on both hands and feet, blade-like teeth bared in a snarl, and wide orange eyes. It blew past them, spurring Dunsmuir out of the stables.

"Can I get a volunteer?" Pru asked, turning to the remaining horses.

A black and dark tan gelding named Cobalt whinnied his consent and Pru darted over, throwing open his stall door. The horse pranced out and Pru pulled herself up onto his back.

"Follow us as fast as you can!" Pru called to Piper as Cobalt ran after the goblin, breezing past Paige and Phoebe who were just outside the door.

She steadied her crossbow while Cobalt cantered along, slowly closing the distance them and the goblin.

_Woah__, baby, you can move, _Pru told him silently, impressed.

_Fastest horse here, _Cobalt replied, quickening his pace a bit.

Pru reached out with her power, trying to get in touch with Dunsmuir. She could sense that the horse was there, but any attempt at communication just fizzled out. There was something blocking her, keeping the horse out of her reach even as they got closer.

_I can't reach her! _Pru thought in frustration.

_I can,_ Cobalt told her.

_Get it off her, _'Crawler suggested. _That might break the spell. _

Pru nodded. _Can you get me closer, Cobalt?_

_Of course, _Cobalt put his head down, stretching out his neck as he pushed himself further.

Pru aimed her crossbow, right for where the thing's heart hopefully was and fired. The goblin screeched in pain as the bolt hit him, the glass tip breaking open and spilling holy water into his wound. But he hung on, turning around to glare at her. Cobalt galloped on, nearly flying as he covered the last few feet between them and then was running next to Dunsmuir.

Keeping a firm grip on her crossbow and grabbing another bolt from her quiver, Pru waited a fraction of a second for 'Crawler to jump from her shoulder to Cobalt's back. Then she lunged at the goblin. She smacked into him and scrambled to get her balance. The goblin screamed at her and slashed with its claws, catching her arms as she fought to get a firm hold on the horse. Finally, she managed to get one leg on each side of Dunsmuir's back and lock them around the horse's middle. The goblin tried to bite down on her throat and Pru ducked, shoving at the same time and sending it flying off.

_Dunsmuir?_Pru asked, but still couldn't contact the horse, who kept right on running. Pru held on tight, glancing back towards 'Crawler and Cobalt. _Can you lead Piper to him?_

'Crawler wordlessly launched himself into the air and flew back towards the stable.

_I'm staying with you! _Cobalt insisted, keeping pace.

The two horses galloped on through the forest, leaving the goblin on the ground, moaning in pain. It wrapped one hand around the arrow and tried to pull it out, but only succeeded in releasing more holy water. It shrieked and stopped, picking up a rock and chucking it in anger at something rustling high in the trees.

A few moments later, Piper burst into view, led by Taliesan and 'Crawler. The goblin jumped at her and Piper threw up her hands, freezing it in mid-air. Piper breathed a sigh of relief and reached in her pockets, pulled out two bottles of holy water.

"Efringere," she murmured, then threw the bottles at the goblin.

They hit it and smashed open, drenching it in holy water. It unfroze and fell to the ground, sizzling and melting. It gave one last shriek, then dissolved into a pile of disgusting gray sludge. Piper watched it, hands ready to freeze it again in case it decided to come back to life. She was about ready to pronounce it dead when the clomping of hooves announced Pru's return. Pru rode in on Cobalt's back, Dunsmuir trotting at their side.

"Dunsmuir woke up, so I'm guessing you got it," Pru said.

Piper pointed at the sludge. "That would be it."

"Gross," Pru commented. "You okay?"

"Yeah, didn't even touch me. What about you?" Piper asked.

Pru held up her arms, which were smeared with blood, and grimaced. "It looks worse than it is. It only got me a couple of times. Dunsmuir's okay, though. Cobalt and I managed to herd her away from danger." She patted Cobalt's neck. "You did so good, baby. Thank you."

Before Piper could respond, Paige, Phoebe, and Bagirah arrived, running at top speed.

"Pheebes, look out!" Piper cautioned.

Phoebe saw the pile of goop she was heading for and tried to stop, but unfortunately not in time. She skidded straight into the sludge, slipping as she tried to get her balance and winding up sitting in it.

"What the hell is this?" Phoebe asked.

"Um, that would be the goblin," Pru said.

"Ewww!" Phoebe squealed, pushing herself away from the sludge while the others tried not to laugh. Granted, not very hard, but there was some effort.

"Well, I was going to call first shower," Pru commented. "But I think it should probably go to Phoebe."

Piper snickered and Paige lost her battle to stifle laughter.

"I hate you all," Phoebe grumbled. "And hell yes I'm getting the first shower."

* * *

Sam was still snickering about last night, which Dean would have found more irritating if it wasn't so damn good to see him laughing. It was almost worth that incredibly embarrassing and almost slightly worrying few minutes staring into the barrel of a gun. Not quite, but almost. He was willing to overlook the embarrassment, though, at least for a little while longer. If Sam didn't knock it off soon, that might change. And Dean was definitely in no hurry to go back into the coffee shop. Let Sam and his stupid smirk wait in that ridiculously long line. And pay the most likely ridiculously large price. 

Still, it was better than having to put up with the crappy coffee that the motel offered. Sam had wanted to make do, but Dean had refused. Which was why they were at the café, making what was supposed to have been a quick stop before going to the library for some more research. But for this late on a Tuesday morning, the coffee shop was really crowded. Dean had gotten bored and gone outside to get a newspaper from one of the stands in front of the café door. There were several to choose from, so he took his time deciding while he half-watched the people going into the shop.

"Hey, check it out," a female voice that sounded vaguely familiar commented. "It's an Impala! You think it's the same one?"

Dean looked up to see Piper and Pru standing on the sidewalk next to his car. They were dressed normally this time, the former in white tennis shoes, jeans, and a blue zip-up hooded sweatshirt and the latter in black cowboy boots, jeans, and a long-sleeved turquoise button-up shirt.

"It's gotta be," Piper replied. "What do you think the chances are that there'd be two awesome cars like this in this town?"

"Good point," Pru agreed. "There's prolly not two cars this great here even not of the same model."

Dean grinned and ducked back into the café. "Dude, our spirits are here," he commented as he rejoined Sam in the line.

"What?' Sam asked.

"Our hitch-hiking ghosts," Dean said. "They're out front, checking out the Impala."

Pru and Piper walked into the store then and spotted them, possibly because Dean gave them a half-wave. They headed over, ignoring the grumbles of one of the women in line behind them.

"Hey," Pru greeted, hooking her thumbs through her wide leather belt, which was adorned with a large silver belt bucket set with a turquoise horseshoe. "We saw your car out front."

"Yeah," Piper said. "Guess we were lucky after all."

"You guys are still in town?" Dean asked. "You friend have another party last night?"

"Oh, yeah," Pru replied. "Best one yet."

"It was exciting," Piper agreed, exchanging a grin with her sister.

"It was probably better than our night. Well, except this guy making an idiot out of himself. Then again, you might have at a nice night," Sam said to Dean with a grin. "That guy might have been little older than your usual-"

"Hey, Sam, how'd you like to sleep in the car tonight?" Dean asked him, cutting off whatever he had been going to say. "It was your fault, anyway."

"What?" Sam asked. "How was it my fault?"

"It's always your fault," Dean told him, then looked back over at the two women. "It's always his fault."

Piper grinned, shoving her hands into the front pockets of her sweatshirt. "Sounds like Phoebe."

Dean blinked. "Who?"

"Our other sister," Pru said with a laugh. "Everything's her fault."

"Yeah, but she'll never admit it," Piper added.

Sam frowned, a look of absent concentration appearing on his face.

"You okay, Sammy?" Dean asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Huh?' Sam asked. "Oh, yeah. Just trying to remember something. So, uh, how much longer are you guys going to be in town?"

"A couple of days, I guess," Pru replied. "Yesterday was the last party, but we figured we'd stick around a little while longer."

"See what there is to see in Grosse Pointe," Piper agreed.

"Trust me, there's not much," Sam told them.

"He's right," Dean said. "I can't believe there was a great party going on last night while I was…not there." He faltered for a moment, trying to come up with something mundane that he could have been doing, then gave up.

Piper grinned. "We'll invite you to the next one, how about that?"

"I'm holding you to that," Dean said, raising his finger at her.

Pru smiled. "I think we can manage that, as long as you bring your car."

"Yeah," Piper agreed. "So technically, I guess the car's invited, and you can come along with it."

"Her," Dean corrected.

"Her," Piper said with a nod. "You can be her guest."

"Deal," Dean agreed cheerfully while Sam rolled his eyes.

"What about you guys?" Pru asked, half-turning towards Sam. "You staying in town much longer?"

"A little while," Sam replied. "There might not be much to do, but there are some good books at the library. And the historical society's not bad. And I just sounded like the biggest geek ever."

"No you didn't," Pru protested.

"Yes, he did," Dean countered. "I'm just shocked he admitted it."

Piper laughed and Pru gave a bit of a grin.

"Okay, maybe you did," Pru said. "But I'm right there with you. We already hit the library, but not the historical society. We'll have to check it out."

"You should," Sam agreed. "Talk to Aaron."

The people in front of them paid for their coffee and moved aside, and suddenly it was their turn. Sam stepped up to the counter to order coffee for him and Dean while Dean remained behind with the two women.

"Hey, listen, we should get together later. Since we're both in town and all," Dean said, flashing them a grin.

"Sure, sounds fun," Piper said. "What's your number?"

The three exchanged cell numbers, then Sam came over and handed Dean a cup of coffee, keeping one for himself.

"See you girls later," Dean told them.

"Definitely," Piper agreed.

"Bye guys," Pru said, waving as Sam and Dean walked out.

When they were outside, Sam shook his head and asked, "You exchanged phone numbers?"

"Hell yeah," Dean replied. "Two of them, two of us, it works out great."

"I don't think so," Sam said.

"Fine, then I'll take them both," Dean commented.

"Somehow, I doubt they'll go for that," Sam said.

"Why not?" Dean protested.

"They're sisters, Dean," Sam reminded him. "Would you want a threesome with me and some girl?"

Dean considered that. "How hot is the girl? And how much do I have to look at you?"

Sam rolled his eyes and opened the passenger door. "I don't know if I'm more disturbed by the fact that you answered that or by your answer."

"Relax, dude, I was kidding," Dean said, then grinned. "Mostly." He climbed into the driver's seat and paused. "Hey, what was up back there with your little blank out?"

"Nothing," Sam replied.

Dean eyed him. "You sure?"

Sam shrugged. "Just thought I recognized their names from somewhere. But I don't know where, I'm sure it's nothing."

"We've probably met people with their names before," Dean said, starting up the car.

"Yeah, probably," Sam agreed.

They got to the library and picked up where they had left off before, trying to find something that made one of the dead warriors stand out. Unfortunately, there wasn't very much backstory on anyone involved in the battle. Few even had names listed, and those were mostly men of higher rank. It wasn't too long before Sam pushed back his current book and wandered off, leaving Dean to stare after him. Dean waited for a bit, half-reading his book while he waited to see if Sam was planning on coming back any time soon.

"I think I just got abandoned at the library," Dean commented after awhile. "Dude. How sad is that?"

He stood up and headed in the direction Sam had gone. Eventually, Dean found him amongst a small group of computers, looking at what seemed to be an old newspaper article on one of them.

"Hey, cool," Dean said. "They have their old papers digitalized here?'

Sam started slightly, then calmed at seeing Dean. "Uh, yeah, looks like. Pretty technologically advanced for such a small town."

"If only they were all like that," Dean said, leaning in to read over Sam's shoulder. "Sam, this is from eighteen-oh-three. The war was in seventeen twelve."

"Yeah, they don't go back that early," Sam replied, not moving his eyes from the screen.

Dean paused, waiting for more. "So…why are you looking at them?"

"Oh! Right, sorry," Sam said. "I was just thinking, maybe we're going about this the wrong way. Could be something else. I mean, suicides, accidental deaths, sudden illness, those are all traumatic, spirit inducing deaths. We didn't ask Aaron about those. Maybe we focused on the war a little too soon."

"Why do you say that?" Dean asked. "All those bones still under there, French soldier impersonators, it's more than we've had to go on before."

"Yeah, I guess. It's just a feeling," Sam shrugged. "Doesn't hurt to be thorough, right?"

Dean considered that. "Well, we weren't getting anywhere with the dead soldiers. Might as well try something new. I'll take the nineteen hundreds."

After a few hours, Sam commented, "Huh."

Dean leaned over to see. "What? Find something?"

"I'm not sure," Sam replied. "It's just this woman, Josette."

"What about her?" Dean asked.

"She's mentioned a couple of times," Sam said. "First, uh, because of her good cooking. Then, she got really sick and the doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong with her. She stared having hallucinations, claiming her brother had poisoned her and talking to the devil. After she got better, she changed, got all paranoid and stuff. Insisted that her brother was trying to steal her half of the mill they owned and that she was going to give it to the devil. Then, a few months later, she died suddenly in her sleep. Supposedly, lightning struck their mill and her half was burned." Sam looked over at Dean. "She and her brother Jean lived at the mill. On Windmill Pointe."

Dean raised an eyebrow. "You think whatever killed her is taking out these people? Or she's doing it herself?"

"I dunno, could be," Sam said. "Oh, hey, here's a picture of a painting of her and her brother."

He clicked on the link and the picture popped up. A woman in her late twenties stared at them with an unsmiling expression, though her blue eyes seemed friendly. Her brown hair was pulled back into a bun and she was wearing a simple old-fashioned white dress. A younger man sat in front of her, with her hand on his shoulder. His dark hair was slicked back and his face looked cheerful, as though he was fighting off a smile.

"He looks familiar," Dean said, looking closer and trying to figure out where he had seen the man before.

"Dean," Sam said. "That's Aaron."

Dean's eyes widened. "Holy shit. It is. So we were-"

"Getting info from a ghost, yeah," Sam said. "I'm printing this."

"Son of a bitch," Dean commented. "He must be pretty damn powerful to pass as human like that."

"Maybe he doesn't know he's dead, like Molly," Sam suggested.

Dean frowned. "Then why's he impersonating a guy at the historical society?"

Sam shrugged. "I don't know."

"Yeah, well. Let's go ask him," Dean said, standing and starting out of the library.

Sam grabbed the page from the printer before going after him. Dean was pissed, and it showed in his driving, although he was careful to stay under the speed limit. They arrived at the building and headed straight for Aaron Warner's office. Sam pushed open the door to, letting Dean shove his way into the room first before following after. Jean was sitting at the desk, apparently reading through some newspaper articles, but he stood up at seeing them enter the room.

"Hey guys," Jean greeted, smiling at them. "What can I do for you?"

"Cut the crap, Jean, we know who you are," Dean informed him, holding up the picture.

Jean looked at it for a moment. "Oh. I really wish you hadn't found that." He stepped towards them, walking through the desk, just as the lights flicked out.

* * *

**Author's Note: **The lyrics at the beginning of this chapter are from _The Battle of Evermore _by Led Zeppelin. Also, the Jean and Josette story is based on actual occurrences in the early eighteen hundreds. And! I still own nothing. 


	4. Chapter 4

_You're gonna burn_

_Ah look at me, guilty_

_Soak my circuit_

_Burn, burn, burn, burn, burn, burn, burn_

* * *

"Damn but they keep doing that," Jean said as the lights flickered back on. "They need to get better wiring." 

"That wasn't you?" Sam asked.

"What? No, of course not." Jean frowned. "Well that was lousy timing, wasn't it?"

"You want to tell us what's going on?" Dean demanded, keeping the gun he had pulled out during the brief blackout trained on Jean.

Jean looked over at him, eyes widening in surprise when he saw the gun. "There's no need for that, is there? I haven't done anything to harm you."

"Yeah, tell that to the three dead guys," Dean said.

"What? I – oh. Yes, of course. I hadn't thought–" Jean shook his head. "I didn't kill those men. I didn't."

"Then why'd you pretend to be Aaron Warner?" Sam asked.

"I didn't want you to know who I was. Who she was." Jean bent down to retrieve the picture that Dean had let fall to the ground, absently placing it on the desk before glancing away. "I thought you might…"

"The vague thing is really not helping your case," Dean told him.

When Jean didn't answer, Sam said softly, "You thought we'd think it was Josette."

"Yes," Jean said quietly, looking ashamed. "God help me for even thinking it."

"So you're saying she's the one doing this?" Dean asked.

"No!" Jean denied vehemently. "She's not responsible for this. I just knew how it would appear."

"I'll tell you how it appears," Dean said. "It appears that you're a dead guy who's already lied to keep us off his trail. Why should we believe you?"

Jean looked slightly troubled. "Yes, yes, you're right. I haven't given–" Suddenly he paused, eyes lighting up a bit. "You're right. I killed those men. I – I'm just angry, and violent and evil."

Dean frowned. "What is this, reverse psychology?"

Jean looked frustrated. "No, I'm guilty, all right? Do your job and get out." He closed his eyes, waiting.

Dean and Sam glanced at each other. Dean shrugged and lowered his gun, but only slightly.

"Why did you think we'd blame Josette?" Sam asked.

Jean opened his eyes and he remained silent for a moment before saying, "When she got sick, it was bad. I was scared for her, the doctors couldn't even…She just wasn't getting better. I asked her, just in case, what she wanted to do with her part of the mill. She got angry and I dropped it, but then it got worse…I shouldn't have pushed so hard. She wasn't herself, she – she said I was trying to kill her. And then…" He paused, his voice getting softer. "She began speaking to the devil. She swore she would leave the mill to him if she died."

"But she got better, right?" Sam questioned.

"Yes," Jean replied. "But she, she wasn't the same. She always thought it was me. She's my sister. I love her. I don't understand how she thought I could have hurt her." He shook his head. "It was the illness. She had such a high fever, they said it damaged her mind. She hated me after that. Said she'd do whatever it took to make sure she got revenge." His eyes closed again. "My sister died thinking I killed her."

Sam and Dean looked at each other again.

"All of the victims did have older sisters," Sam said.

Jean's eyes snapped open. "It can't be her. Whatever happened between us at the end, Josie would never hurt an innocent person."

"Jean, whatever's out there isn't your sister," Sam told him. "What she was like just before she died, becoming a spirit would just make that worse. Most spirits, well, they don't really care about reality. They see whatever they want to see."

"Uh-huh," Dean said, impatient with Sam's attempt at explaining. "What I don't get is why she's doing it now. It's been two hundred years and nothing. Why now? You do something to set her off?"

Jean looked at the floor. "I started looking for her again. Back when it first happened, when I realized what I was, I knew I was still here because I needed her to know I loved her. I tried to find her, but I only got glimpses. She didn't want me finding her." He sighed. "She probably thought I wanted her stone."

"Her stone?" Dean asked.

"We had two grind stones. After she died, and the fire burned out half of our home, we only found one stone. People said it was the devil taking what she left to him, but I always thought she took it to keep me from having it." Jean glanced at Josette's picture. "I gave up after awhile. I thought, maybe she'd come looking for me. But she didn't. So I started again."

"How long ago was that?" Sam asked.

"I don't know. A month? Two?" Jean replied. "Sometimes it's hard to keep track of time."

"So your start trying to find her again, she gets pissed and starts killing people to warn you off. Or maybe she's just completely gone nuts and thinks she's killing you." Dean shrugged. "Either way, she's toast." He turned towards Jean. "Was she buried or cremated?"

"Buried," Jean replied. "But I–"

"Do you know where?" Dean asked.

"Of course," Jean said with a frown. "I'm her brother, I arranged the funeral. I don't und–"

"We need to know where she's buried, Jean," Sam told him gently. "You know as well as we do that she's the one doing this. Otherwise you wouldn't have tried to send us in the wrong direction." Sam paused, frowning. "How did you know what we were?"

Jean smiled a bit sadly. "I've been dead for two hundred years. I've seen hunters pass through here before. They never bothered Josie or me, because we never did anything to disturb them or attract their attention. But when people started dying like that, poisoned like she thought I did, I knew someone would come looking. Aaron was on vacation, so I stayed here, waiting for someone to ask questions."

"What if we were just regular tourists?" Dean asked.

Jean's smile turned slightly amused. "Two men in their twenties who decide the historical society is the must see place in town? I figured it had to be you. And if it wasn't, well, it didn't really matter. I've had a long time to practice appearing human."

"Yeah, about that," Dean said. "How'd you manage to last two hundred years as a spirit without going completely insane?"

Jean shrugged. "She's my sister. I couldn't let her think that about me. When things get bad, I remember her."

"Yeah, well, she's not your sister anymore," Dean said. "She's something dark and twisted and evil. And she's killing innocent people. We're going to stop it."

"She's my sister," Jean said again, tone pleading.

"Jean, think about it," Sam told him. "You said it yourself, your sister would never hurt someone like that."

"She wouldn't," Jean said, reaching over and taking the picture off of the desk. He stared at it, eyes glossy and far away as he continued, "She's always been so selfless. When the love of my life died, Josie was there for me. She moved to America with me, she would have done anything for me. She loved to cook, she used to make meals for anyone who asked, or needed it, and she never wanted anything in return. She – she wouldn't want people to be hurt. And she wouldn't want me to do nothing about it."

"Great," Dean said, too quickly, pretending that he hadn't been at all affected by what Jean had said about his older sister. "Let's go then."

Jean blinked. "Now?"

"Yeah, now. Or we could give it another night to get someone else killed," Dean said.

Jean flushed slightly. "I see your point. All right. It's a small plot, close to the lake. I can take you there."

The sun was almost done setting as they walked out to the car. Dean and Sam climbed into the driver and passenger sides, respectively, while Jean slid into the backseat without even opening the door.

"Dude," Dean said. "That's just wrong. You better not have messed up my door with your ghost ectoplasm."

Jean looked somewhat contrite. "My apologies. I'll use the door next time."

Dean shook his head. "Man, the last time a ghost was in my car, it stopped working. And before that, it got driven into a house." He looked over at Sam. "Although that last one was really your fault."

"Got the job done, didn't it?" Sam muttered.

Some amusement peaked through Jean's solemnity. "I promise I'll do my best to not make your car crash."

"Good," Dean said, starting up the car. "Which way am I heading?"

Jean gave them directions to a picnic area near Lake St. Clair, where Dean parked the car and they headed into the forest on foot.

"What exactly are you going to do?" Jean asked, glancing at the shovels and duffel bag that Dean and Sam were carrying.

"I thought you knew about us," Dean said.

"I know there are hunters. I don't know exactly what they do," Jean replied. "I was never inclined to interact with them much. I usually keep my distance."

"So glad you decided to change your routine for us," Dean muttered.

Sam ignored his comment and told Jean, "Yeah, that was probably smart. We, uh, we have to salt and burn her bones. We don't really know what happens after that."

"We just know it gets rid of them," Dean said. "Keeps them from hurting more people."

Jean frowned, looking troubled, but he didn't say anything more as they continued on. Soon they reached a small, slightly overgrown clearing. Jean walked over to a patch of ivy and pushed it away, revealing a pair of crumbling headstones.

"They've been forgotten," Jean said. "But I make sure no one disturbs them. This one is Josie's."

"Whose is that one?" Dean asked.

"Mine," Jean replied softly. "This was our family plot. But the family never made it past Josie and I."

"I'm sorry," Sam said, looking slightly uncomfortable. "We better get started." He dropped the duffel bag to the ground.

Working together, Sam and Dean quickly reached the rotting wooden coffin. Dean broke it open with his shovel and the two stared down at the skeleton and decaying strips of fabric inside.

"Yahtzee," Dean commented. "You take salt and I'll do the gas?"

Jean shifted his weight, then blurted, "I can't do this. Do you guys think you can find your way back?"

"I think we'll manage," Dean said.

"I'm sorry," Jean said. "And I'm sorry I tried to trick you."

"Thank you for your help, Jean," Sam told him.

Jean ran his fingers through his hair. "I'm the one who should be thanking you. I, well. Once she's gone, there won't be a reason for me to stay. I don't think I'll be seeing you again." He flushed, looking down. "So, thank you." He abruptly faded out.

Dean waited for a moment, then said, "Okay, I feel better now. That was just creepy."

"He seemed like a nice guy," Sam protested.

"He was a dead guy, Sam. I don't care how nice he was, it was still creepy." Dean shuddered. "Evil crazy sons of bitches I can handle. These almost human ones, they're something else."

"You just don't like it when things stop being black and white," Sam said.

"Thing stopped being black and white awhile ago, Sam," Dean replied angrily. "What do you want me to do, tell you it doesn't bother me when I see those things? It goes against the way we were raised. Psychics or whatever, like Missouri or–" He hesitated for a fraction of a second, and Sam just knew he had been about to say 'you'. "– that new agey Wiccan chick in Santa Cruz, okay. I can deal. But the rest of them, man, they're evil. They've always been evil. So excuse me if I find it hard to take."

"Dean, you know I–" Sam started.

Dean waved him off. "Yeah, dude, I know. Let's just burn this bitch and get it over with."

They dumped salt and gasoline on the bones, then Sam lit a match and dropped it into the hole.

"So long, Josie," Dean told the burning corpse as they watched the fire. Then he grinned. "Man, this is something I never get tired of."

"Pyro," Sam teased.

"Damn right," Dean said proudly. "Come on, you're telling me this isn't at all awesome."

"Okay, maybe it is kind of cool," Sam admitted.

They stared in silence for awhile, then Sam glanced sideways at his brother. "Dean. I'm sorry."

"Shut up and watch the fire," Dean muttered.

* * *

"You think we should tell Phoebe and Paige that we saw them again?" Pru asked. 

"No way," Piper replied. "Phoebe will just bug us to tell her how hot they are and Paige will yell at us for talking to them again."

"And then tell us that if we get to hitch rides with strange men and exchange numbers with them, then so does she," Pru agreed. "Okay, we won't mention it. I doubt it'll come up again, anyway."

"I dunno, maybe we should call them," Piper teased with a grin. "They were cute."

"Hell yes." Pru grinned back. "Way too damn pretty." She paused. "I think they were gay, though."

"Yeah, probably," Piper said. "The irony gods do like taunting us like that. It's just as well. Phoebe'd just spend the whole night trying to flirt with them. It's probably best to keep her away."

Pru laughed. "Maybe we could distract her with free alcohol and another random hot guy."

"Maybe," Piper said. "But it's not worth the risk."

"Yeah, you're right," Pru told her as they stopped in front of the VW, smiling as she saw 'Crawler peek his head briefly over the steering wheel.

"What's she right about?" Paige asked, leaning out the passenger door window.

"Everything," Piper replied, sliding open the ride side door and climbing in.

"Sure," Phoebe commented sarcastically from the seat next to her. "Did you bring me my coffee?"

"I did, but you don't get it now," Piper informed her.

"Oh, come on," Phoebe pleaded.

"You better give it to her," Pru said, handing Paige her coffee through the window before going around to the driver's side. "No one wants to see Phoebe without her caffeine."

"Oh, all right," Piper said, passing Phoebe one of the cups of coffee. "But only because I have to sit in back with you."

"I love you too," Phoebe muttered teasingly as she sipped at her coffee. "So what first? Research or interviews?"

"We should do interviews first," Paige suggested. "Hopefully it'll give us more to go on."

"Interviews it is," Pru agreed, starting up the VW and turning up the radio. "Into the distance, a ribbon of black, stretched to the point of no turning back."

"There's three families to talk to, so we should probably split up," Piper said after awhile, and Pru stopped singing along to listen. "I'll take the Simons."

"I'll take Mrs. Gerard," Pru said.

"Looks like we get Emery Kyle's sister," Paige told Phoebe.

"What are we going as?" Phoebe asked.

"I called the EPA, pretending to be a resident, to see what they were planning on doing about the problem, and they said they didn't feel it warranted investigation," Pru said. "So we're safe for EPA. Either that or state police, probably."

"State police," Phoebe said. "More credible."

"You just like the badge," Paige teased.

"If we're doing police, Pheebes, you better change," Piper told her.

Phoebe frowned. "I don't see why I can never wear what I want during interviews."

"Because in the real world, figures of authority don't wear peasant blouses and mini-skirts," Piper replied.

"Well they should," Phoebe grumbled, but she gently pushed Bagirah out of her lap, climbed over her seat into the back of the car and began rifling through her duffel bag.

"Haha, I don't have to change," Paige commented cheerfully. "I win."

"She should have realized when you left off the make up this morning," Piper said.

"And anything with fishnet," Pru added.

"And the gloves! I kept the boots though." Paige pulled up the legs of her jeans to reveal one black combat boot and one purple one.

"Are you sure you even own socially acceptable clothes?" Pru called teasingly to Phoebe.

"With the amount of clothes she has? Of course she does," Piper said.

"Oh, shut up," Phoebe said as she climbed back over the seat, now dressed in jeans and a zipped up black jacket. "What is this, pick on Phoebe day?"

"Every day is pick on Phoebe day, sweetie," Piper informed her.

Phoebe stuck out her tongue. "Gimme back my coffee." She snatched it from Piper's hand.

"Better drink it fast, Pheebes, we're here," Pru said as she parked the car in one of the visitor's spaces.

Phoebe tipped back the cup, swallowing the last few gulps of her now lukewarm coffee. "Done."

Pru opened the windows most of the way for 'Crawler, Taliesan, and Bagirah, who had to wait in the car, then reached under her seat and pulled out a beige box. Inside were four neat rows of various identification cards. While she selected the right IDs, Paige pulled a similar box from her the passenger seat, although this one was full of badges. Once they all had the proper identification, the women split up and headed off to their respective interviews.

Piper straightened her ponytail as she knocked on the door to the Simons' trailer and put on her best friendly-yet-authoritative face. In a few moments, a young woman who looked a few years younger than her own age answered the door with a sad, lonely look in her eyes.

"Are you Kaylie Simon?" Piper asked.

"Yes," she replied.

"I'm Officer Rachel Berenson with the state police," Piper said, holding up her ID and badge. "Are your parents home?"

"No, ma'am, I'm sorry, but they're still in Venice," Kaylie said quietly. "I know I said they'd be home for the funeral, but they got held up."

"Do you expect them back any time soon?" Piper asked.

Kaylie hesitated, then shook her head. "No, most likely not. It's just been me and Jeff for awhile now."

Piper felt a stab of sympathy for the girl, who suddenly seemed a bit older than she really was. "Do you mind if I come in and ask you a few questions, then?"

"No, not at all," Kaylie said, gesturing her inside and to the kitchen table. "Anything to find out what happened to Jeff. Can I get you something?"

"No, thank you," Piper said, sitting down.

Kaylie sat down across from her, nervously twirling strands of her dark brown hair around her fingers. "I already spoke with the county police."

"Yes, I know. Thank you for making time to talk to me, too," Piper said. "Some of the questions may be similar, but we're required to approach the investigation with a blank slate. It makes it easier to form unbiased interpretations."

Kaylie nodded and they went through the standard health conditions, enemies, history of mental illness, suspected amount of exposure to possible toxic materials, things in common with the other deceased, and anything unusual the days leading up to Jeff's death.

"I wasn't in town the night…the night it happened," Kaylie said. "I was visiting friends in Detroit. Maybe if I…" she trailed off, but before Piper could say anything, continued with, "I was here when Emery died, though. I saw him before it happened. I, I don't think I mentioned that to the other officer." Kaylie colored slightly. "Men, uhm, make me nervous. Especially…"

"Attractive ones?" Piper supplied, offering the girl a friendly, understanding smile.

"Yeah," Kaylie said, warming to her a bit. "The detective who talked to me earlier, he was okay. But the agent the EPA sent, he was…wow. He asked me about that specifically, which was why I remembered for him. I guess he talked to Liv and Millie first."

"You spoke with an EPA agent?" Piper asked.

Kaylie nodded. "He came by yesterday. Why?"

"Last I heard, the EPA didn't think this was worth investigating. I guess they changed their minds." Piper shrugged. "They don't always tell us everything. So what did you see the night Emery died?"

"Lucy, that's their dog, was barking. She doesn't bark too often, so I went out to see if anything was wrong," Kaylie said. "Emery was already out there taking care of her. I don't know what was making her bark. I didn't see anyone out there. But…"

"But?" Piper prompted encouragingly.

"It was really cold out," Kaylie said. "I mean, I know it's Grosse Pointe, but it's summer, and earlier it had been kind of warm. When I went out then, it was freezing. And something just felt…wrong. Like something strange was out there, watching us." She shook her head. "I sound stupid."

"No you don't," Piper assured her. "Every little bit helps." She smiled at her, then said, "Well, that's everything. Thank you for talking to me."

"Oh, um, of course," Kaylie said, standing up to show Piper out. "Listen, um, if you find out anything, will you call me? Please? No matter what…what it was?"

Piper started to say something noncommittal, but something in Kaylie's eyes made her change her mind. "Okay. And if you remember anything else, give me a call?" She handed her a business card with Rachel Berenson's name, and her own cell number.

"I will. And thank you," Kaylie said, tears briefly flooding her eyes.

Piper nodded, then headed back to the car to meet up with her sisters. Pru was already there, leaning against the car with her head halfway through the open driver's side window and chatting cheerfully with what seemed like nothing. Piper grinned, knowing 'Crawler was most likely just out of sight.

"You know, it's probably not a good sign when a member of the state police is out here talking to herself," Piper teased as she walked over.

Pru grinned at her. "Shut up. There's no one out here, anyway. You find anything out?"

"Oh, yeah," Piper replied. "Kaylie Simon saw Emery Kyle right before he died. She said it felt weird, really cold and like she was being watched. And, Emery had his dog with him, barking at something no one else could see."

Pru's eyes lit up. "Much better than anything I got. Let's hope the dog feels like talking. You get a name?"

"Lucy," Piper said as they started walking back towards the Kyles' trailer. "Should we wait to see if Paige and Phoebe learned anything?"

"Yeah, probably," Pru said. "They might know something that'll help with questioning."

"They better not take too long," Piper grumbled.

Fortunately, they only had a few minutes of standing in the street close to the trailer when Paige and Phoebe came out.

"Hey guys," Paige greeted cheerfully. "Guess what?"

"They Kyles have a dog?" Piper guessed.

Phoebe frowned. "No fair. Did Kaylie tell you she was there?"

"Yeah," Piper said, grinning. "What else did you guys find out?"

"Not much," Paige said. "Just that there doesn't seem to be any normal reason for Emery's death."

"Okie-dokie, guess I'll see if Lucy knows anything we don't," Pru said, then fell silent as she telepathically contacted the dog.

"So you think it's paranormal, then?" Phoebe asked Paige.

Paige nodded. "Maybe it's a bit too soon to say for sure, but no health issues, no reason for anyone to kill him? And the police can't figure out a definite cause of death?" She shrugged. "It's either supernatural or the best serial killer ever."

"You forgot the dog thing," Piper added. "Oh, plus Kaylie said it was really cold that night and she thought something was there." She frowned. "She also said she spoke with an EPA agent."

"Yeah, Emery's sister and girlfriend said two of them stopped by to ask questions, too. Really similar to our questions, apparently, his girlfriend was irritated at having to answer them again," Phoebe said.

"Huh," Piper commented. "You think there's someone else looking into this?"

"Another hunter? I doubt it," Phoebe said. "It's not like we haven't been lied to before. The EPA probably doesn't want the public to know they're investigating."

"Things like that can cause panic," Paige agreed. "They're probably afraid people will start boycotting the water or something."

"Yeah, probably," Piper said. Still, though, part of her couldn't help but wonder. Maybe she'd ask Pru what she thought later.

"I felt so bad for Emery's sister," Phoebe said. "It was like half the time she wasn't even there."

"Kaylie too," Piper said. "Her parents didn't seem to be in the picture much."

"Well," Pru said suddenly, interrupting the conversation. "I think it's definitely supernatural."

"Lucy saw something?" Phoebe asked.

"She saw enough," Pru replied. "She's scared and confused, so her mind was jumbled. I calmed her down as best as I could, but…I think she'll be okay, though." She paused and glanced around. "Come on, I'll tell you in the car. We've probably been standing in the street long enough."

Pru explained what she got from Lucy on the way to the library. Once they arrived, they split up once again to try and find anything that fit what the dog had seen. Paige tackled the history books, Phoebe looked into local legends (which including chatting with the other library patrons) and Piper and Pru hit the old newspapers.

"The nightgown looked like it was late eighteenth or nineteenth century," Pru said as she and Piper sat down at the computer. "Or maybe early twentieth. Lucy's memory was fuzzy. And she wasn't exactly focused on clothes at the time."

Piper nodded. "Well, the paper doesn't start until the eighteen hundreds. So I'll start there, and you can work backwards from the early nineteen hundreds."

"And meet in the middle," Pru agreed.

They started searching through the articles. After an hour or so, Phoebe gave up finding anything by talking to the people there and joined them, looking into the mid nineteen hundreds, just in case.

At a little after six pm, Phoebe pushed back her chair. "Well, I've found nothing and I'm starving. I say we break for dinner. Anyone else hungry?"

"I'm always hungry," Piper replied. "Just let me finish this and we'll go find Paige."

After a few minutes, Piper said, "Hey, guys, look at this. The parts about Jean and Josette LeBlanc."

The other two leaned in, then Pru grinned. "I think this might be it. It definitely fits what Lucy saw. And the mill burning on Windmill Pointe?"

"Good job," Phoebe said cheerfully. "Let's got get Paige and tell her over food."

"Fresh eyes would be a good thing," Pru agreed. "We can start grave searching when we get back."

There was a diner close to the library, so rather than waste gas driving, they walked down to the restaurant. They ate quickly, then headed straight back to the library and picked up their search. Several hours later, Pru sighed.

"Okay, I've got an idea. We can't seem to find the grave, so maybe we should look for the stones," Pru suggested.

"The stones?" Phoebe asked.

"Yeah," Pru said. "Spirits can attach themselves to things besides their bodies, remember? And the whole thing was caused over ownership of the mill, which basically means the grind stones. And, after the fire, one of them was never found."

"Makes sense," Paige said. "But even if we do get rid of these stones, we'll still have to take care of the body."

"Yeah, but it'll give us something to do," Piper said. "Well, two of us, anyway. The other two should stay here and try to find the grave and the other stone. The one they found is on display at the Grosse Pointe War Memorial. We can go take care of that right now."

Phoebe looked at the other three and asked, "Straws?"

"Straws," Paige agreed, pulling two long sticks and two short sticks out of her backpack. She held them in one fist so no one could tell which was which and said, "Short straws stay behind."

Phoebe drew first and got a short straw, while both Pru and Piper got long ones.

"Damn," Paige commented. "My eyes are getting blurry."

"Tell you what," Pru said. "If you guys haven't found anything by the time Piper and I get back, we'll call it a night and pick things up in the morning."

"Okay," Phoebe said reluctantly. "But you better hurry your asses up."

Piper and Pru grinned at each other, then headed out to the car where their familiars were waiting. When Piper opened the passenger door, Bagirah darted out of the car and snuck into the library, probably to keep Phoebe company. Piper shrugged and climbed into the car.

"How are we supposed to burn a giant rock, anyway?" Piper asked as they drove towards the memorial.

"Uh," Pru said intelligently. "Smash it to a powder and burn that? Oh, except we don't have a sledgehammer."

"What happened to the one we used to break through the concrete around that psycho's coffin in Iowa?" Piper asked.

"That was Don, the warehouse manager's. We had to give it back," Pru replied.

"Oh. Well, we could buy a new one," Piper suggested. "I'm sure there's a twenty-four hour K-mart around here somewhere. But if we start pounding the hell out of it, we're gonna lose some pieces. We won't be able to get rid of the whole thing."

"Good point," Pru said, considering. "Okay, how about we put the stone in a cloth bag, smash it up, dump in some salt, and then burn the whole thing?"

Piper grinned. "Sounds good to me. Let's go get ourselves a bag and some sledgehammers."

They managed to find a store that was still open and bought what they needed. Then they parked the car a bit away from the memorial and walked the rest of the way with just the bag. It was relatively easy to sneak in, locate the stone, and get it in the bag, but then came the hard part of getting the heavy stone out. They carried it between them, doing their best to keep to the shadows.

"I am so glad it's past one in the morning," Piper muttered.

"We should have just driven," Pru replied. "The car probably had a less chance of being seen than we do now."

Fortunately, they made it back to the VW without being seen. They hefted the stone into the backseat before driving to a secluded part of the forest. There, the two women probably had a little too much fun smashing the stone into a powder. After a couple of handfuls of salt tossed in the bag and a nice soaking of gasoline, Piper dropped a lit match on the bag and it went up in flames.

"There's nothing that can't be solved with fire," Pru said happily, then added, "Or hugs."

"Mm-hm," Piper agreed. "Oh, hey, did Mrs. Gerard mention anything about talking to an EPA guy?"

"Yeah, actually, she did," Piper replied. "Which is kinda odd since the girl I talked to said they weren't investigating."

"I thought so, too," Piper said. "Kaylie said she talked to one, and Emery's girlfriend and sister spoke with two who asked questions a lot like ours. You think someone else might be investigating the deaths?"

Pru frowned. "Maybe. Two supernatural evils in this town, might have attracted two different hunters."

"That gets me, too. Le Lutin and this crazy spirit at the same time?" Piper asked.

"I know. What's up with this town?" Pru shook her head. "Well, if someone else is working this, we'll probably run into them soon."

"Yeah," Piper agreed, then the two fell silent to watch the fire burn itself out.

"All right," Pru said after the last of the flames had died. "Let's go get Paige and Phoebe."

* * *

Wednesday morning Dean and Sam slept in a bit. With their hunt done, they were free to catch up on some rest before moving on. Sam was normally an early riser, though, and he wasn't tired enough to keep his internal clock from waking him a little after ten. Dean was still sleeping, so Sam quietly pulled on a pair of jeans and a green hoodie and headed out to take advantage of the last half hour or so of free food. 

He combed his fingers through his hair as he walked across the parking lot, enjoying the cool morning breeze. The door to the breakfast room was open, and as he headed closer he could smell bacon and those muffin things Dean seemed to love. Sam should probably grab his brother some of those, if only because Dean was likely to kill him if he didn't.

Sam was a few feet away from the breakfast room when the two women exiting it made him stop in his tracks. It was Piper and Pru, both carrying plates of food and showing up in one of the last places he had expected them to be. The logical part of his brain said it made sense. After all, this was the motel closest to the bar they had wanted to be dropped off at. But still, he couldn't help being suspicious.

"No way," Piper said as they spotted him and stopped. "You're staying _here_?"

"Looks that way," Sam replied. "It was the closest motel to that bar."

"Yeah, that's why we picked the bar. Close enough to walk but not let you know where we were staying," Pru said, then grinned. "Of course, we didn't expect you to follow us over."

"Not me," Sam told her. "Dean's more the creepy stalker type."

"Or maybe we're really the ones stalking you," Piper teased.

Despite the fact that it was obviously a joke, Sam's suspicions deepened for a moment. It must have shown on his face or something, or maybe Pru was just worried he'd take it seriously, because she hastily said, "She's joking. We really don't randomly stalk people."

She seemed sincere, and Sam had to admit there didn't seem to be anything bad about the two of them. He still thought they were weird, but he didn't feel as if he was in any danger. His instincts said there was nothing to worry about. Except that thing he sometimes did around women where he had no idea what to say.

He smiled kind of nervously. "I know. I was just surprised. Because we keep running into each other and…Are the muffins any good today?" He asked, gesturing to the plate of the baked goods that Piper was carrying.

"They're great," Piper said with a grin. "Can't say the same about the co-"

"Pru! Piper!" A female voice yelled from somewhere back in the rows of rooms.

"We're coming!" Piper shouted back.

"Well, hurry up!" the woman called. "Or we're taking the car and leaving!"

"We have the keys!" Piper yelled, while Sam looked over at Pru.

"Who's that?" he asked.

"That would be our sister," Pru said.

"I don't care!" the woman shouted. "I'll hotwire it!"

"You don't know how!" Piper replied.

"Phoebe?" Sam guessed.

"Uh, no, Paige," Pru said.

"How many sisters do you have?" Sam asked.

"Just three," Pru replied. "Piper, Phoebe, and Paige. And, uh, me."

"I've watch you two do it, I can figure it out!" Paige yelled. "And it won't be my fault if your car gets damaged! Should have moved your asses!"

"Thank you for shouting that across the parking lot!" Pru yelled back.

"You're welcome! Now let's go!" Paige said, followed by the sound of the door slamming.

"I bet they're not really even done getting ready," Piper grumbled.

"Yeah, well, we better get going, or she might actually try to hotwire my car," Pru said. "See you around, Sam."

"Later," Piper told him.

"Bye," Sam said as they walked off towards the rooms. He turned away and headed into the breakfast room. After eating his fill, although at a quicker place than he would have liked, since the free breakfast ended at 11:00, Sam piled muffins high on one plate and bacon and eggs on another. Then he went back to their room, balancing the bacon and egg plate in the crook of his arm so he could open the door. He had expected Dean to still be sleeping, but his brother's bed was empty and the shower was going behind the bathroom door.

"You're awake?" Sam asked.

"Apparently!" Dean called back. "Some chick was shouting about hotwiring cars." The shower stopped. "Did I miss breakfast?"

"Yeah," Sam replied as Dean came out of the bathroom with a towel around his waist. "But I got you some."

Dean's eyes lit up when he saw the muffins. "Dude. You're the best."

"It takes so little to make you happy," Sam said, pretending Dean's kid-at-Christmas expression didn't at all make him happy or put him in a good mood.

Dean grinned at him through the two or three muffins he had shoved in his mouth. "Thanks Sammy."

"You're welcome." Sam told him as he flopped down on his bed and reached for his laptop. "Put some clothes on, will you?"

Dean mumbled something and pulled on boxers and a pair of jeans, all one-handed and still eating muffins.

"Oh," Sam said. "Guess who I saw?"

"Celine Dion, and you exchanged beauty tips," Dean said.

Sam rolled his eyes. "No. Your spirits. They're here, that was their sister yelling at them about the car."

"Seriously? What room?" Dean asked.

Sam shrugged. "I don't know."

Dean stared at him. "You didn't ask? Geez." He shook his head. "Well, at least this works out. We have a free night and I don't even have to think about what motel I'll end up at."

"Classy," Sam commented.

Dean's response was to make a face at him and pick up a piece of bacon. Which he promptly dropped to reach for his gun, giving a yelp of surprise as Jean came bursting through the closed door.

"Damn it!" Dean cursed, moving his hand away from the gun and stooping to collect his fallen bacon. "Don't _do_ that! Give me a freaking heart attack."

"Have you read the news today?" Jean asked, looking shaken.

"No," Dean replied. "Why are you still here, anyway?"

Sam frowned. "Jean, what's wrong?"

"Someone else died last night," Jean said, nervously pacing a few steps. "I thought – I thought what you did was supposed to stop it."

"It was," Dean said. "She must be attaching to something else."

"The stone," Sam said. "That's the reason she's here, isn't it? To keep you from getting it?"

"Shit," Dean swore, kicking the leg of the table and causing it to shake slightly. "Why the hell didn't we think of that last night?" Without waiting for a response, he turned on Jean. "You know where she's keeping it?"

"Don't you think I looked? That if I knew where it was, I'd know where she was and I'd be there talking to her instead of here?" Jean demanded.

"We'll just have to do more research," Sam said quickly. "Dean, maybe you could go to the library and pick up some books? I'll try researching online."

"Do you mind if I stay and help?" Jean asked.

Dean scowled, obviously unwilling to leave Sam alone with Jean. "If you're going to help anyone, come with me and give me your input on the books," he said reluctantly.

"All right," Jean complied. "Lead the way."

"We'll be right back," Dean told Sam. "Don't touch my muffins."

* * *

**Author's Note: **Once again, I own nothing. The lyrics at the beginning of this chapter are from _Live Wire _by AC/DC, and the song on the radio that Pru sings along with is Pink Floyd's _Learning to Fly_. 


	5. Chapter 5

_I see the angels, I'll lead them to your door_

_There's no escape now, no mercy no more_

_No remorse now, 'cause I still remember_

_Your smile as you tore me apart_

* * *

When Piper and Pru walked back into their motel room, they saw Paige looking into the mirror above one of the dressers, putting on purple lipstick. The bathroom door was halfway open and Phoebe was inside, blow drying her hair. 

Piper shot Pru an "I told you so" look.

Pru grinned and set her plate of food down on the table. "Never said you were wrong."

"What?" Paige asked, looking over at them.

"Nothing," Pru replied. "What was the point of yelling at us if you weren't ready?"

"I'm ready," Paige said, putting the cap on her lipstick and dropping it into her make-up bag. "And I was bored."

Piper rolled her eyes, then said, "Pheebes! Get your ass moving. We're done with breakfast and you're still not ready."

"I'm almost done!" Phoebe replied.

"So, we've got another twenty minutes," Paige joked, plopping down on the end of one of the beds. She reached out and snatched a muffin off of the plate that Piper was holding.

"Hey, those aren't for you," Piper said, quickly moving the plate out of her reach. "They're for Talie." She set the plate down on the table next to Pru's bacon and sausage loaded plate, then took and handful and crumbled them up into pieces. Taliesan hopped over from his spot on the nightstand to perch on the back of one of the table chairs, where he began picking away at the crumbs.

"Sure, you feed the bird, but not your sister," Paige grumbled.

"I do when my sister chose to sleep a little more and take forever getting ready instead of coming with us to get breakfast," Piper replied. "You can have the leftovers."

"Don't worry, we got plenty," Pru said with a grin.

'Crawler poked his head out from under the crumpled blankets on Pru and Piper's bed, then jumped to the ground and padded over to Pru. He climbed up onto her shoulders and made a soft inquiring trill.

"Yeah, yeah, I got your bacon," Pru told him, handing him a strip.

He took it in his forepaws and quickly munched it down.

"So what's the plan for today?" Paige asked.

"Research," Piper replied, crumbling up another few muffins.

"Well, duh. I knew that part," Paige said, rolling her eyes.

"You up for hitting the books again?" Pru asked as she handed 'Crawler another strip of bacon. "We figured we'd try what we were doing yesterday again, you at the books, Pheebes talking to the locals, me 'n Piper at the newspapers. We were looking for a grave yesterday, might have missed something about the other stone."

"Makes sense," Paige agreed. "But I looked all through those books yesterday; I don't think there's anything in there that can help us. I'd rather be out there with Phoebe. We can cover more ground between the two of us."

Piper shrugged. "Suit yourself. Just make sure you two coordinate things. Don't want you overlapping and talking to the same people."

Paige rolled her eyes. "Why yes, Piper, I did just start this job yesterday. I certainly haven't been doing it as long as you."

Piper threw a pillow at her and Paige ducked, laughing. The sound of the hair dryer stopped as Phoebe finished in the bathroom and emerged with Bagirah at her heels. The feline immediately hopped up on the table to sniff at Pru's plate. All of the bacon was gone, but the sausage still remained and he began wolfing it down.

"Okay, Talie's done, the muffins are yours," Piper said, offering Paige the plate.

Paige made a happy squealing noise and took the plate, carefully breaking off pieces of a muffin so she wouldn't mess up her lipstick.

"Oh, good, breakfast," Phoebe said, moving to Paige's side to share in the muffins. "Am I gonna go out and try talking to people again? I wanna hit somewhere besides the library."

"Yeah," Paige told her. "I'm going with you. Well, not with you with you, but you know what I mean."

"Cool," Phoebe said. "I figure we should probably try and find all of the high school hang outs."

"Sounds good to me," Paige replied. "If anyone's likely to know about random secret hiding places, it'll be high schoolers. They always want more places to get away from their parents and party."

"Yup," Phoebe agreed. "That's one bad thing about it being June, though. All of the schools are closed." She paused. "Never thought I'd hear myself say that. Well, anyway, it makes people more difficult to find."

"We can start at that coffee shop," Phoebe suggested. "Can you guys drop us off there before you head to the library?"

"Sure thing," Pru said. "Everyone ready?"

After a quick stop at the coffee shop, Piper and Pru made themselves comfortable at the computers and started up their search. When two hours went by with no new information, Pru let out a frustrated breath of air. She pushed her chair back from the computer and stretched before dropping her arms on the table and resting her head dejectedly on top of them.

"You okay?" Piper asked, pausing to look over at her.

"Yeah," Pru replied. "I just, this whole thing just gets to me. I don't understand how…He was her brother. She was his sister. How could…" She trailed off and sat up, shaking her head. "It's just starting to feel like this is getting us no where. But I don't know what else to do. If this doesn't work, I'm out of ideas."

"We'll find something," Piper said, leaving the first part alone because she didn't really have any more answers than Pru did. "We always do."

"In time? Someone else died last night, Piper," Pru told her. "If we don't stop it, someone's going to die tonight."

"Maybe you need a break. Why don't we go for a coffee run?" Piper suggested.

"Uh," Paige commented from behind them as she set a cardboard tray with two coffee cups on the table between the computers. "Too late? Look, I was nice and brought you guys things?"

"Thanks, sweetie," Pru said, taking one of the Styrofoam cups. "I didn't want to leave, anyway. Did you find anything?"

"Not yet," Paige replied. "Some people have heard rumors about a secret hangout in the woods, but no one I've talked to seems to know exactly where it is."

"Damn," Pru said, biting her lower lip. "Okay. Get back out there and call us if you find anything?"

"Of course," Paige said, exchanging a glance with Piper. "Pru, maybe you should go grab something to eat."

"Not hungry," Pru replied, moving her eyes back to the screen. "And I saw that look. I'm fine. I had my freak-out moment, now it's time to get back to work."

"You sure?" Paige asked.

"Absolutely," Pru replied. "If I'm not, someone else's brother dies tonight. So, yeah, I'm sure. Thanks for the coffee, Paige, it's perfect."

"Yeah, I have a feeling it's going to be another one of those skip lunch days," Piper said with a grin.

"We already skipped lunch," Paige replied. "Well, we're in the process of skipping it. Hence, the coffee. 'Cause we'll probably end up skipping dinner to go kill this thing."

"We can have celebratory dinner afterwards," Piper said.

"Mmm, celebratory dinner. Sounds good to me," Paige agreed. "Okay, I'm heading back out there. See you guys later."

She hugged both women from behind so they wouldn't have to get up, then left. Piper and Pru returned to their newspaper searching. Occasionally one of them would get up to look into something promising, checking into records or history books, but nothing seemed to pan out. Finally, after a few more hours, Piper's phone vibrated.

"How much do you love me right now?" Phoebe asked once Piper answered.

"You found it?" Piper asked, and Pru looked up hopefully.

"I think so," Phoebe said. "Apparently there's this spot out in the woods that some of the high schoolers discovered. It's a trap door under a bunch of leaves and crap that leads to a storage cellar type thing. Supposedly it's sound proof, a great place to have a party. I called Paige, and she'd actually been getting the same thing, so she checked it out. Turns out it's right by where Josette used to have a garden."

"Much better than anything we've got," Piper told her. "Where are you?"

"Uh, corner of Fourth and Herndon," Phoebe said. "I'm headed back towards the library, but I was gonna meet Paige here. She found a year round school here."

"Great. Stay there and we'll come get you," Piper said, hanging up the phone. "Phoebe and Paige think they found it. They're waiting for us at Fourth and Herndon, so let's go. I'll explain on the way."

Pru smiled. "I love those girls," she commented as they headed out.

* * *

"Are you finding anything?" Sam asked. 

They had been working for a few hours before they had switched, Sam hitting the books and Dean searching online. They hoped that would give them enough of a fresh eye without actually having to take a break. It didn't seem to have worked, though, since more time had passed with still nothing.

"Yeah, maybe," Dean replied. "There's something in her obituary that's been bugging me. Where is it…yeah, here. It says there was a place in this meadow where she used to spend all of her time. Disappear for hours."

"Yes," Jean said. "Her garden."

"Okay, well, what if when she disappeared, she actually disappeared? What if she had some kind of hidden place, the kind where she could hide a stone?" Dean asked.

Jean nodded. "I thought of that. I don't like going there, it feels like she doesn't want me there. I looked anyway, but I couldn't find anything."

"Yeah, well, you didn't have this," Sam said, holding up his EMF meter. "If she's attaching to her stone, it'll read on this. If it's there, we'll find it."

"Very well," Jean said. "I will take you there."

"Sweet," Dean said, standing up and grabbing his car keys before heading out the door.

Sam and Jean followed, and Jean gave them directions to a small parking lot that had a couple of trails leading from it into the woods. There was only one other car there besides their own.

"Not a very popular spot," Sam commented.

"No," Jean said. "It'll be dark soon, and these trails aren't terribly safe at night. This is the first time I've seen a car here this late." He pointed to a trail that disappeared over a small hill. "It's that way. At the bottom of the hill. Used to be a meadow."

"Thanks," Sam said, getting out of the car.

Dean opened his door, then paused. "Uh, Jean, you should probably stay away. The EMF meter'll react to you and screw things up."

"Oh." Jean blinked. "All – all right. I'll stay behind."

"You can wait here, if you want," Sam offered. "Or go back to the motel room."

Dean shot him a look that managed to say both "what?" and "hell no" at the same time.

"No, it's all right. I, um, thank you," Jean told them, then faded out.

"I really wish he'd quit doing that. Oh, well, least he's gone," Dean commented. He climbed out of the car and paused to look at the VW bus parked a few spots away. "Man, look at that."

"Yeah, I wondered about that, too," Sam said.

"What's to wonder? It's awesome," Dean said, giving it a glance over. "Seventy-one's a good year for those. In good condition, too. Nice detailing. Not as good as that one Andy had, but –" Dean paused. "Well, anyway, nice car."

Sam had a smart retort about Dean and cars, but it faded when Dean mentioned Andy. After a moment, Sam just said, "That wasn't what I meant. Don't you think it's odd that another car happens to be out here now?"

Dean raised an eyebrow. "No? Guy probably brought some girl out here for privacy. And just think, that could've been me." He shook his head in what was probably only mostly mock dismay. "As long as they stay out of my way, we're good. Now come on, I'm getting freaking tired of this dead chick."

Sam gave his head a small shake. "Me, too," he admitted with a small, slightly exasperated smile as he and Dean started up the trail.

They were halfway up when Dean stopped. "You hear that?"

Sam paused to listen and could hear faint rustling and footsteps. "Someone's down there."

"Yeah," Dean said, hefting his shotgun and pointing it out in front of him. "Or maybe it's Josie."

Sam pulled his gun out of the back of his jeans and cocked it, keeping it pointed at the ground as he and Dean walked slowly up the hill. They separated slightly so that the path was between them and they could use the trees for cover. When they reached the top, they stayed hidden behind the trees and scanned the bottom of the hill.

"You see anything?" Sam asked softly.

"No," Dean replied. "Nothing. Maybe it was a deer."

They quietly snuck down to the bottom of the hill, then froze when a twig snapped off to their left. Dean whirled to face the noise and Sam remained at Dean's back, pointing his gun the other way in case it was a misdirection. Sure enough, a small bottle came flying at Dean's back from behind the trees. Sam grabbed Dean's arm and yanked him sideways, and the bottle hurtled through the space they had been to crash into the trunk of another tree.

Sam fired his gun in the direction the bottle had come from while Dean shouted, "All right, whatever you are, get your ass out here!"

"All right, fine!" A female voice called. "Just quit shooting at us." A young woman emerged from the forest, with strawberry blonde hair streaked with blue and purple. She was wearing a low-cut red sweater that ended an inch or two below her breasts and a pair of low-rise, hip hugging jeans. At her side was a woman about an inch shorter, with wavy auburn hair and dressed in black pants and a black bra under a long-sleeved, see-through purple shirt.

"Pru? Piper?" Dean asked, and Sam turned around and backed up a few steps so he could see both sides. Piper stood a few feet in front of Dean, and Pru was not too far from her.

"Hell, you guys really _are_ everywhere," Piper commented.

"What the hell are you guys doing here?" Dean asked.

"I'm going to be unoriginal and say: we could ask the same of you," Pru replied.

"Uh, guys?" the auburn-haired woman asked. "You wanna explain what's going on?"

"These are the guys that picked us up a few days ago," Piper said.

She rolled her eyes. "The creepy hitch-hiker guys? Great."

"That would be Paige," Pru introduced. "And the blonde is Phoebe. This is Dean and Sam."

"I knew they were hot when you refused to tell me, but damn," Phoebe said, looking them over.

"Good job, Pheebes, ogle the guys shooting at us," Paige commented.

"Oh, like you weren't thinking the same thing," Phoebe replied.

"Yes, but I got my staring done and then went back to thinking, 'Oh, Lord, creepy guys who pick up hitch-hikers and have guns,'" Paige said.

"Shut up, they're not creepy," Piper said.

"Although the guns are kind of iffy," Pru added.

"Yeah, we really don't have time for this," Dean said. "Just, trust us, the safest place for you to be right now is not here."

"Yeah, not helping with…" Paige started, then stopped as Sam's EMF meter started going off.

"Is that what I think it is?" Piper asked as Sam pulled it out of his jacket pocket.

"Yeah, that'd be an EMF," Pru said. "Guess you were right about – 'Crawler, what the hell?" she asked as her dragon soared down from one of the trees to hover in front of her, trilling in alarm.

"Holy shit," Dean commented.

"I second that," Phoebe said, pointing off to the side.

Josette was flickering in and out of view as she walked towards them, growing stronger the closer she got. "Why are you here?"

"Fuck," Dean said, pointing his shotgun at her. "Sam, go find the stone. I'll hold her off."

"We found it," Pru said quickly.

"We just heard you coming before we could destroy it," Piper added.

Josette wavered dangerously and wailed, turning sharply around and going back the way she had come. Dean and Sam ran after her, followed closely by the four women. Josette led them to a spot not far from the bottom of the hill. A rotting wooden trap door had been thrown open, revealing a few steps disappearing into darkness. She stopped when Jean faded into sight at the top of the trap door.

He smiled at her. "Hello, Josie."

"No," she said, taking a step forward and then falling back again. "No!"

"Yes," he replied. "Sorry sister dear, but I found you. Or should I say, they found you." Jean gave a nod to Sam and Dean. "Brilliant job. You were everything I hoped for."

"Oh, fuck," Dean commented. "I'd say I told you so, Sam, but hell, he even had me going. I just love it when we get played."

"So it was you this whole time?" Sam asked.

Paige shot him a confused look. "Who else would it be?"

"Me," Josette said. "You made it look like me."

"Oh, Josie, you're not going to start this again, are you? You should have figured out what I was capable of long ago." Jean shook his head. "I don't have time for your wailing. I'm taking my stone and I'm leaving. Thank you again, boys, couldn't have done this without you. And you ladies, well, not quick enough, I'm afraid." He grinned at them, and then vanished once again.

"Damn it," Dean cursed. "Damn it, damn it, damn it!"

Pru pushed her fingers through her hair in frustration, then realized that wasn't the best idea with pigtail braids and stopped, pulling out a few chunks in the process. "Yeah, that sums it up. We lost the other stone, we still don't know were the freaking grave is –"

"We do," Sam interrupted.

Phoebe blinked. "Seriously? How the hell did you manage that?"

"There'll be time for that later, let's _go_," Pru said.

They went back to the parking lot, and Dean was in enough of a hurry that he didn't even make a comment about Pru's car. He did, however, stop when he saw Josette's flicking form in front of them.

"I'm going with you," she said.

"Oh, hell, no," Dean replied. "I've had enough of friendly spirits."

"Dean –" Sam started.

"Quite frankly, I don't care," Josette replied. "He's my brother. I loved him and he killed me. He killed me and he killed innocent people in my name. I hid because I still couldn't hurt him, wasn't strong enough in any sense of the word, but I'm not hiding anymore. And with you here, I don't have to. You're strong enough to stop him, make me strong enough. You can let me come or I can follow you, but I'm going."

There was a pause, then Paige said, "You can ride with us."

They piled into their respective cars and Dean tore off down the road. Pru followed after him and before long, they reached the picnic area that Jean had shown them the day before. Instinctively, both groups brought a pair of shovels.

For a moment, they all stared at each other, then Dean said, "We got this."

"Suit yourself," Piper said.

Dean and Sam quickly dug up the remaining grave and cracked open the coffin.

"Well, I'll be damned," Dean commented. "I half figured he'd have taken off with his bones, too. Keep us from burning them."

"Guess he figured now that he has the stone, he didn't need to," Sam said as he hoisted himself out of the hole.

"Good for us," Phoebe commented.

Dean climbed out as well, and Piper and Phoebe dumped in salt and fuel, then Pru dropped a match in and set it ablaze.

"We still need that stone," Pru said.

"And his, too," Sam agreed.

"No, we got that one," Piper replied. "Just have to find him."

"At least we're not under pressure now," Paige offered. "He's got the stone, he won't need to kill anyone else."

"No," Pru agreed. "But he still has to pay for what he did. He's gonna burn, and the sooner the better."

"You're lucky I want to get this thing done, too," Dean told them. "'Cause I have a bunch of questions that need answers, and I'm pretty sure you're not going to be able to come up with some good enough ones."

"This talking is not conductive," Josette informed them. "We have to find my brother."

"Yeah, well, I hate to say this, but your crazy ass brother already tricked us twice," Dean said. "So it's not gonna be easy. Unless you have anything 'conductive' to add, you mind shutting the hell up?"

Josette frowned and flickered rapidly in and out, then took a deep breath and steadied. "He's my brother. I may not have known him as well as I thought I did," her voice began growing faint, "but I still know him enough to know where he would be." She kept talking for a moment, but no sound came out, and then she flicked out altogether.

"Josette?" Sam asked.

There was a moment of silence, then Piper said, "Well, damn."

* * *

**Author's Note: **The lyrics at the beginning of this chapter are from _Angels _by Within Temptation. Once again, I own nothing. Please don't sue. 


	6. Chapter 6

_People are strange, when you're a stranger_

_When you're strange, faces come out of the rain_

_When you're strange, no one remembers your name_

_When you're strange, when you're strange_

* * *

"So much for her knowing where he is," Phoebe said. 

"You think she just went to find him herself?" Paige asked.

"No," Josette said as she blinked back in. "I cannot. Alone I am not strong enough to take the stone from him."

"Then what was that?" Dean asked.

"I have trouble," Josette replied. "It has been two hundred years, and I have not spent that trying to be human. Interaction, something besides hiding the stone from Jean, is difficult."

"Oh," Dean said.

"Jean, he likes to pretend that he is not dead," Josette continued. "There is a cabin in the woods that is his. He thinks I do not know about it, but I watch him more than realizes. He will go there."

"You sure?" Paige asked.

Josette shook her head. "No. I cannot be sure of anything. But it is the most likely place for him to be."

Phoebe shrugged. "Most likely's better than what we've got. Which is nothing."

"It's this way. Follow me," Josette told them, walking off into the woods. They traveled in silence for awhile, then Josette said absently, "He was not always like this."

"Jean?" Paige asked.

"Yes," Josette replied. "My brother was a good man. We were always very close, even when we were young. We fought, yes, but we always stood by each other. Even when times where hard. And they were hard." Josette seemed to grow stronger as she spoke, as if telling it helped her remain substantial. "When we were still living in France, Jean fell in love. Oh, she was a beautiful girl. Kind and generous, and she loved him back. They were to be married. And then, she died. Jean never recovered. We moved to America to get a fresh start. Jean, oh, he tried. I knew he was trying for me. But he was always so sad, so lost. And then…I don't know what, or when, but something happened. He wasn't my Jean anymore."

"You making excuses for him?" Dean asked.

Josette shook her head. "No. His actions are inexcusable. But things were different once. I wish they had not changed." She fell silent again.

As they continued on, Dean was occupied with watching out for Jean and trying to both ignore and keep an eye on the four women and the dragon, phoenix, and cat traveling with them. Especially those last three. This whole damn job was grinding away at his last nerve. He was starting to wish they had just gone after that poltergeist in California, even if this had been on the way and a priest friend of Bobby's had already been checking the other one out. He spotted Pru looking at him, then, and she flashed him a grin when she realized she was caught. He raised an eyebrow at her.

"Yeah, because you weren't doing the same thing," she commented.

"You keeping an eye on us? Oh, that's priceless," Dean said.

Piper glanced away from Sam to look at him. "Hey, we're not the ones with guns, shooting at people."

Dean glared at her. "Yeah, well, we're not the ones with freaky mythical creatures for pets."

"Familiars," Phoebe corrected.

"Great. Familiars," Dean said, clenching his jaw. "How much further?"

"A little ways. I don't know, exactly," Josette replied. "I do not usually walk there."

"Great," Dean said again, and tried to console himself with the fact that this would be over soon and he and Sam could leave and pretend it hadn't happened.

"If you guys don't have guns, what do you use?" Sam asked.

"These," Pru said, pulling a glass bottle out of her sweatshirt pocket. "They're filled with rock salt."

"How do you expect to hurt a ghost with a gun, anyway?" Paige asked.

"The shells are loaded with rock salt," Sam replied.

"My idea," Dean added.

"Nice," Piper said.

Silence reigned once more until Josette stopped. "It's just up ahead. Wait here, I will see if he is there."

Dean looked over at Sam. "I'll distract him and you destroy the stone?"

"Uh, hello?" Phoebe asked. "We're here too, remember?"

"We can distract it," Pru suggested.

Dean raised an eyebrow at Sam, then shrugged. "Fine."

"You want a sledgehammer to smash the thing?" Piper asked.

"We got our own, thanks," Dean said shortly.

"We've only got one, Dean, it'll be faster with both of us working," Sam said.

Dean scowled. "Whatever."

Pru unzipped the sports bag she had tossed over one shoulder and pulled out a sledgehammer. "Here," she said, handing it to Sam.

"Thanks," he told her.

She smiled. "No problem."

Josette came into view, flickered a few times, and the solidified. "He is there. The stone is in the back room."

"How many rooms are there?" Dean asked.

"Two," Josette replied. "The back room is small, and there is a larger room in front. He is in the front, reading."

"Okay, we'll sneak around back and get in to that stone," Dean said. "You guys draw him out front. Don't let him get back inside."

"Yeah, sure. We'll try to keep that in mind," Piper said.

"You just do your job, and let us do ours," Phoebe told him.

"Come on," Pru said, putting a few more bottles into the pockets of her sweatshirt and setting the sports bag on the ground. "Good luck, guys."

"Yeah, you too," Sam told her.

The four women moved quietly towards the front of the cabin, while Josette led Dean and Sam around the back.

When they were almost to the front door, Piper spotted a particularly dry branch and stepped on it, hard. It snapped loudly, echoing through the small clearing. "Shit," Piper cursed, making her voice slightly louder than necessary.

"Shut up!" Phoebe said. "He'll hear you."

"You shut up!" Piper replied. "You're making more noise than me."

"Both of you shut up!" Paige told them. "We'll never get in there and get that stone if he catches us."

They were only a few steps closer when Jean commented from behind them, "While I admit to being impressed that you found me, your approach was somewhat lacking."

"Damn it!" Pru swore. "Pheebes, Paige, try to get in there. We'll hold him off."

"Now, now," Jean said, disappearing and reappearing between them and the cabin. "That's not very lady-like. Do you really think I can't take all four of you?"

Pru pulled a bottle from her pocket, murmured, "Efringere," and chucked it at Jean. It smacked into his chest and burst, spraying rock salt everywhere. Jean's form wavered and dissolved into wisps of fog before disappearing completely. They waited in silence for him to reappear, then Phoebe shouted, "Paige! Behind you!"

Paige whirled and threw her own bottle. Once again, it struck and Jean vanished. Keeping up with their act of trying to get the stone, Paige and Phoebe raced for the front of the cabin. They weren't even halfway there when Paige felt a hard grip on her shoulder. She yelped in pain as fingers dug into her skin and she was yanked backwards.

"Paige!" Phoebe shouted, turning and running after her.

The dragging stopped after a dozen or so feet, but the hand on Paige's shoulder didn't let up. Jean appeared behind her and wrapped his other arm loosely around her neck.

"Please," he said. "I don't want to hurt anyone. I'm tired of hurting people. I just want to take what's mine and be left in peace."

"Nice try," Phoebe said. "We know what you did, and you're not getting away with it."

"If you know what I've done, then you know I can easily kill her," Jean said, tightening his grip on Paige. "So I suggest you back away."

"Oy!" Pru called, drawing his attention to her while Piper snuck around behind him. "I suggest you get your crazy-ass dead hands off my sister."

Jean smirked. "Really. What –" Piper's bottle hit him before he could finish and he dissolved, freeing Paige from his grasp.

"Fuck, that was not fun," Paige commented. "Thanks. Remind me never to get dragged by my shoulder again."

"We'll get on that," Pru teased, although her smile was pure relief.

"Didn't you ask us to remind you that last time something like this happened?" Piper asked.

"Probably," Paige said. "In which case you all fail. Except, you know, the saving part. That was good, keep it up."

They waited again, and this time it took longer for him to reform. When he did, he sighed. "This is pointless. You can't defeat me. You can only keep me at bay while I wear you down. It will be much less tiresome for both of us if you just left now."

"Not gonna happen," Piper said.

Jean took a step forward, then paused, frowning.

Pru sniffed the air. "Do you smell smoke?"

They turned to look at the cabin. Flames were threatening to overtake the back room, and even starting to spread to the front.

"No," Jean said. "No!"

"Yes. This time, brother, I found you," Josette said as she flickered into view.

She was soon followed by Sam and Dean, running out the front of the cabin.

"Scratch one grind stone," Dean commented.

Jean blinked at Josette, looking confused for a moment. "Josie?" he asked quietly, then screamed as fire overtook him, burning him from the inside out.

Josette stared at the spot where he had been for a long moment. Then she said, "We should put out the fire or it will spread."

"Calling the fire department right now," Phoebe said, taking out her cell. "So we should be elsewhere soon."

"It's over," Josette said.

"Yes, it is," Sam replied.

"It feels odd," Josette mused absently. "For two hundred years, I felt his presence. And now it's gone. I thought it would be freeing."

"But it's not?" Piper asked.

"No," Josette replied. "He is still my brother. And he still did all those things. I loved him. I –"

"You still love him," Pru supplied softly.

Josette glanced downwards. "Yes. I love the way he used to be. And I think, a part of me will always love him. No matter what." She looked up. "What does that make me?"

"Human," Sam told her quietly.

She smiled at him. "Thank you. All of you."

"You're, uh, welcome," Dean said.

"There's nothing holding me here anymore," Josette said. "Hopefully there's something waiting for me. Maybe I'll seen Jean again, my Jean. The Jean who loved me."

No one said anything, which made the click when Phoebe shut her phone echo slightly.

"They were already on their way," Phoebe said. "Someone else saw the smoke."

"Then I guess this is good-bye," Josette told them, her form flickering a bit. "I can't ever thank you, but I will find a way to try."

Before anyone could ask what she meant, bright light shone over her as she solidified, looking beautiful and ethereal. Then she was gone, and the faint sirens in the distance began growing louder.

"That's probably our cue to leave," Pru said.

"Yeah. So. Who's up for that celebratory dinner?" Piper asked.

* * *

After they were seated at the diner and had given their orders, Dean looked at the four women over the rim of his beer bottle. "So, you're witches," he said. 

"Pretty much, yeah," Paige said. "In case you hadn't noticed."

"Don't be rude, Paige," Pru told her.

"I wasn't being rude," Paige protested. "I was answering an obvious question with an equally obvious answer."

"That was a statement, not a question," Dean muttered.

"So," Sam said quickly. "Uh, those bottle things you guys have. How do you get them to burst when they hit spirits?"

"We put a spell on the glass ahead of time," Piper replied. "We say the last word of the spell, chuck 'em, and the first thing it hits makes it go boom."

"Even if it happens to be insubstantial," Pru added. "The spell works on a spirit's energy just as it does something solid."

"When did you guts start doing this?" Sam asked.

"Um, about three years ago," Phoebe said. "We got our powers in college."

"What, did you guys just start trying spells one day and realize, 'hey, this works'?" Dean asked.

"Actually, it was the random voices that clued me in," Pru told him.

Dean raised an eyebrow. "Voices, huh?"

"I talk to animals," Pru replied.

"So do lots of people," Dean pointed out.

"Cute," Pru commented, grinning slightly. "When I talk to them, they talk back."

"We all have our own specialties," Paige said. "Pru has her animals, Phoebe can levitate, Piper freezes things, and I teleport. Only through water, though."

"What about you guys? How long have you been at this?" Piper asked.

Sam's lips twitched upwards in what could have been either a smile or a grimace. "Pretty much all our lives."

"Oh. Wow," Phoebe commented. "What's that like?"

Sam and Dean glanced at each other, then Dean said, "It made us really good at our job."

There was a moment of silence, probably while the women considered what to say, then Pru said, "You sure as hell got rid of that stone faster than we could have. And I don't know how you guys figured everything out without Lucy's help."

"Lucy?" Dean asked.

Sam frowned slightly. "The Kyles' dog?"

"Yup," Piper replied. "Pru's animal thing comes in handy when the only witness is a dog."

Dean considered that, debating whether it was impressive or more like cheating. He settled on cheating, but Sam seemed to be leaning towards impressive because he said, "So that's how you knew it was Jean."

Phoebe nodded. "Both of them were there, but Jean was the one who killed Emery. Josette was trying to warn Jean off."

The waitress came with their food, then, and the conversation dropped off for a little while. When she was gone and everyone had had a few minutes to start into their food, Dean said, "Okay, these familiar things, whatever they are. You guys all have one?"

"Yeah," Paige said. "Krakken, he's mine, is a sea serpent. He has to stay in water, that's why you didn't see him tonight."

"You met the rest," Phoebe said. "Bagirah is mine, Pru's dragon is 'Crawler, and Piper's is Taliesan. They just kind of showed up one day, the same day we got our powers."

"And that didn't freak you out or anything?" Dean asked.

"Oh, no, it did. Big time," Paige told him. "But we were connected to them. I could feel Krakken's emotions, and he wasn't evil. Cranky and easily annoyed, yes, but not evil."

"So you just decided to go fight the things that go bump in the night," Dean said.

Phoebe shrugged. "Once we knew they were real, we couldn't just ignore them."

"You should have seen our first job," Paige said with a grin. "We had no idea what we were doing."

"Didn't have that problem," Dean said. "We were taught by the master."

"What happened?" Sam asked suddenly. "You didn't get that tonight, did you?"

Pru, who had been reaching across the table to hand Piper the ketchup, asked, "Huh?" Then she glanced down and saw that the sleeves of her sweatshirt had ridden up, revealing the bandages on her arms. "Oh. No, that was a little present from a goblin we killed a few nights ago. That's the real reason we came here, actually."

"The goblin was an interesting one," Phoebe said. "Our first time going against one. We usually take care of spirits, and such. We get a lot of minor demon possessions, too. Some other things, but mostly dead things and demons. So the goblin was new."

"Was that why you were out in the woods the other night?" Sam asked Pru and Piper.

"Sort of," Piper replied. "That was pre-goblin. We were doing a spell for protection and strength. Spell casting can be difficult, and we didn't know what we were up against. We don't really have the kind of power where we can just go into things unprepared. The actual goblin was on the other side of the forest."

"So I take it that friend of yours wasn't actually throwing kick-ass parties," Dean said. "Damn."

Pru grinned a bit and swallowed her mouthful of eggs. "Sorry, but no. He called us because the goblin was killing his horses. And then when we were done, we saw the deaths in the papers and figured we'd look into it."

"Which reminds me," Piper said. "I need to call Kaylie."

"Kaylie Simon?" Dean asked. "Why?"

"I promised her I'd let her know if I found anything out," Piper replied.

"What are you going to tell her?" Pru asked.

Piper frowned, considering that. "I don't know. The truth, maybe? She seemed like she could handle it. But I gotta tell her something."

"Yeah," Pru agreed. "It's her brother. I'd…I'd want to know."

Her slight hesitation made Dean frown, but then he shrugged it off. It reminded him of something else, though, so he said, "Yeah, I had a question. This sister thing."

Piper grinned. "We get that a lot. We had an interesting family."

"Piper and I had different moms, but the same dad," Pru said. "When we were still little, Dad married Phoebe's mom. They wanted a kid of their own, but they couldn't have one, so they adopted Paige."

"And speaking of, well, me," Paige said. "My shoulder is killing me. Can we head back to the motel so I can put some ice on it?"

"Of course," Piper said. "I'm finished, anyway."

Pru pulled some cash out of her pocket and offered a few bills to Dean. "This should cover our share. You guys mind waiting to take care of the bill?"

Dean pushed her hand back towards her. "It's on us." He flashed them a grin. "I never let a girl pay for dinner."

Sam rolled his eyes. "Ignore him. But, yeah, we got this."

Phoebe grinned flirtatiously at them. "You keep buying us dinner and I'll have to think of some way to repay you."

Sam shifted nervously and Dean was torn between his natural flirting instinct, which seemed to keep taking over, and the whole witches thing. His freaked out side won, and he just sort of smiled uncomfortably.

"Shut up, Phoebe," Piper commented. "Thanks. Really. Are you guys leaving tomorrow?"

"Dunno," Sam replied.

"Well, if you do, come knock on our door so we can say good-bye?" Pru asked. "Room 17."

"Yeah, sure," Sam said.

"Cool. See you guys later," Paige told them.

The four women headed out, and Dean glanced over at Sam. "Guess you were right about them being weird."

"Yeah," Sam agreed. "Wrong kind of weird, but still weird. At least it was the good kind of weird."

"Yeah, well, I'm still holding the verdict on that," Dean said.

Sam looked at him. "Dean – "

"I'm not saying they're evil or anything," Dean said. "They're nice girls. But they're still witches. And the familiar things. Those are just freaky."

"I admit, that one got me, too," Sam said, shaking his head slightly and finishing the last of his fries.

Dean shrugged and took another drink of beer. "I'm just glad this job is freaking over. I can't believe I fell for Jean's act."

"I bought it too, man," Sam replied. "It was a good one."

"Yeah, well," Dean said, then trailed off. "Can't wait to say good-bye to this place. Jean, Josette, and some goblin thing? What the hell is with this town?"

Sam grinned a bit. "Least it's not as bad as those gang members that died and reformed their gang back in L.A."

Dean gave a small shudder. "Dude. Don't even mention that. Damn punk-ass kids."

Sam laughed. "Finish your food, Dean, I'll go pay the check."

He stood up and headed for the counter, leaving Dean to glare at the vegetables on his plate.

"Man, I hate broccoli."

* * *

"Hey, look," Sam said as he tossed his duffel bag into the back on the car. "Your spirits are here. And they brought their sisters." 

"Dude, that's so not funny anymore," Dean muttered as he looked up to see the four women walking towards them.

"Morning, guys," Piper greeted.

"Hey," Sam said. "You guys taking off, too?"

"Well, yeah. Actually, we wanted to talk to you about that," Paige said.

"We want to come with you," Pru told them.

"Funny, I thought you just said you wanted to come with us," Dean replied. "I must be hearing things."

"Haha," Pru muttered sarcastically. "Look, we talked about this, and we think we made a pretty good team."

"You guys have more experience than us," Paige said. "You face badder things. Eventually, we're gonna need that."

"And we can help you, too," Phoebe told them. "We've been at this three years, we're not gonna be loose weight."

"We're not saying forever," Piper added. "Just, you know, for awhile. And if it doesn't work, we can go our separate ways, but we think we should at least try it."

Sam grinned, looking amused. "Did you guys rehearse this?"

Pru gave a sheepish smile. "Maybe a little. Okay, maybe a lot."

"We've met a few other hunters," Piper said. "And they seem to be pretty set in their ways. They frown on the whole teamwork thing."

"Which is silly," Paige grumbled. "Because, really, look how well it worked for the X-men."

"I know, right?" Pru agreed. "They always…I mean, no, we're not geeks."

"You girls are nice," Dean told them. "And smoking hot. Normally I'd be the last person to turn you away, but it's just not a good idea."

"Well, hold on, Dean," Sam said. "It might be."

Dean stared at him. "Are you serious? No offense, girls, but no thanks."

Sam frowned. "Dean, can we talk for a minute? Hold on," he told the girls, pulling Dean into their motel room.

"What?" Dean demanded. "What do we have to talk about? You can't possibly think this is a good idea."

"I don't know, Dean, maybe," Sam started, then trailed off.

Dean shook his head. "No. They're not coming with us, Sam."

"You really think we can stop them?" Sam asked.

"Sure we can. We take off right now, before they can follow us. Then they can go back to hunting ghosts and baby demons," Dean said. "They shouldn't be messed up in the things we deal with, Sam, and you know it."

"If they keep hunting, they'll run into something bigger sooner or later. If they're with us, I don't know, maybe they can handle it," Sam told him.

"No. We don't need to be baby-sitting them, and I don't want to hear that they can handle themselves. They got lucky back there. They'll be better off if they just keep doing what they're doing, and we'll be better off without them," Dean insisted. "Why are we even talking about this?"

Sam hesitated, then admitted, "They're witches."

Dean raised an eyebrow. "That's not helping your case, dude. That's the opposite of helping. They're _witches_. Which are evil, like, eighty percent of the time or something."

Sam frowned and resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "They have powers. Powers we don't have. Maybe they can do something to help you."

Dean rolled his eyes upward. "Not this again."

"Yes, this again," Sam replied. "I told you, I'm going to do whatever it takes. And if that means letting them tag along-"

"You heard them, Sam, they're lower level witches," Dean cut in. "They don't have anywhere near the power of the crossroads demon."

"Yeah, well, maybe their powers will grow. They've only had them for three years, that's not long enough for them to reach their full potential. Or maybe they know someone who's more powerful," Sam said. "I don't care, Dean, they're more than I've got right now. I'm taking anything I can get."

"That's stupid. You know that, right? Stupid," Dean repeated, as if saying it a second time would make Sam admit that he was right.

"I'm not going to let you die because of me," Sam said quietly.

Dean wouldn't look at him as he replied, "We're not doing this."

"Yes we are, Dean," Sam said. "Because all this does is tell me that you can give up your life to save mine, but I can't do anything to save yours."

Dean looked up at him, but didn't say anything.

Sam gritted his teeth. He knew that look. It was the look that said Sam was being an idiot, the look that told Sam that Dean would always consider Sam's life worth more than his own. Would always consider Sam worth more than him. For a moment, Sam wanted nothing more than to punch his brother. Instead, he said, "We're not arguing about this anymore, okay? The more we do, the more the demon can say you were trying to get out of the deal. Just, just, shut up." Sam looked at him with pleading eyes, trying to get him to say the right thing.

"I'm against this," Dean said through gritted teeth. "This is stupid and you're an idiot and I do not want those girls traveling with us."

Sam nodded. "They're coming with us," he informed him before walking out of the motel room.

Dean stood there for a moment longer, staring after him, then shook his head and grabbed his duffel bag and car keys. He slammed the motel door behind him and walked over to where Sam was standing with the girls. He glared at Sam and jerked his head towards the Impala. Sam gave him a look that was probably supposed to be meaningful, but headed towards the car.

"Well?' Pru asked.

Dean looked at her and the other three for a moment, then said, "You better be able to keep up."

* * *

**Author's Note: **And this one is over! I'm writing these episode-like, so the start of the next one should be up soon. Like usual, I own nothing. The lyrics at the beginning of this chapter are from The Door's _People are Strange._


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